TULSA, Okla.—An attorney representing the Tulsa County court clerk over a federal judge’s ruling that Oklahoma’s ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional said Friday that arguments for the appeal will likely be filed in the next few months.
Jim Campbell, a lawyer for the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing clerk Sally Howe Smith, said lawyers for Smith will file briefs explaining the reasoning for the appeal once the court sets a schedule. Campbell said he anticipates the briefs being filed in one to two months.
U.S. District Judge Terence Kern on Tuesday struck down Oklahoma’s voter-approved ban on gay marriage, but there’s been no rush to altar because he stayed the effects of his ruling anticipating an appeal. A notice of appeal was filed in the case Thursday, but the three-page notice did not raise any arguments.
Smith was named as a defendant in the case after she refused to issue a marriage license to a gay couple. In an interview with The Associated Press shortly after Kern’s ruling was issued, Smith said there was no way under Oklahoma law for her to give the couple a marriage license.
The Denver-based 10th Circuit Court of Appeals is also hearing an appeal in a similar case from Utah.
