US: Arkansas clerk claims equal marriage county lawsuit is actually a state matter

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A county clerk from the US state of Arkansas, has said that a lawsuit challenging the state’s equal marriage ban, should be filed in state court, rather than by the county itself.

Pulaski County Clerk Larry Crane issued court papers filed on Thursday that the lawsuit filed by three gay couples in the state court should be dismissed, and taken up by the state court.

He said that the lawsuit which was filed by three gay couples, is too similar to another which was filed by 11 couples in state court.

Going on, Crane said that while the couples raised federal constitutional issues, marriage licences were a matter of state law, and questions regarding them should be taken to state court.

He said that if the couples lose in the Arkansas Supreme Court, which the 11 couples have filed their lawsuit at, they can still take the case to the US Supreme Court.