For those who know that Thursday is the day that the Arkansas Supreme Court issues opinion weekly:

Again no word on the appeal of Judge Chris Piazza’s ruling invalidating the state ban on same-sex marriage.

No word, period.

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The Court took up the case on an expedited basis and heard arguments Nov. 19.

UPDATE: A federal judge in Michigan today ruled that the state must recognize the marriages of some 300 same-sex couples who married after a favorable lower court ruling striking down a marriage ban but before the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the ban.

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If the Arkansas Supreme Court or a federal appeals court considering a separate federal lawsuit reinstates Arkansas’s marriage ban, this is a question that will linger for some 500 couples who married in Arkansas after Piazza’s ruling. In Michigan (in a ruling with no application in Arkansas except as informative for judges):

U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith ruled that the state must recognize the marriages, stating in his opinion that, “the same-sex couples who married in Michigan during the brief period when such marriages were authorized acquired a status that state officials may not ignore absent some compelling interest—a constitutional hurdle that the defense does not even attempt to surmount.”

Judge Goldsmith elected to allow the ruling to be stayed for 21 days.

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