Lawyers for a couple challenging Oklahoma's gay marriage ban, and the clerk who refused to grant them a license, are headed to a federal appeals court with a rare opportunity.
Judges at the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver heard arguments last week about Utah's gay-marriage ban, and will take up the Oklahoma case Thursday.
That gave the Oklahoma legal teams on both sides a chance to fine-tune their arguments based on what they heard last week.
Attorneys defending the ban say they were encouraged by the judges' tough questions.
The couple's lawyers will likely look to the judge who asked whether Utah's ban was akin to a Virginia ban on interracial marriage struck down in 1967.
Both state cases involve bans on same-sex marriage passed by voters.
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