Judges fell marriage laws in two Southern states

Federal judges in Mississippi and Arkansas on Tuesday overturned those states’ laws defining marriage as between one man and one woman. Both judges put their rulings on hold pending appeal.

Referendums held in 2004 in both states approved adding the traditional definition of marriage to the states’ constitutions. But Judge Kristine Baker in Arkansas said the law there was discriminatory.

“The fact that Amendment 83 was adopted by referendum does not immunize it from federal constitutional scrutiny,” Baker wrote in her ruling. In Mississippi, Judge Carlton Reeves compared overturning the state’s marriage law to the desegregation effort in the South, calling marriage a “fundamental right” owed to every citizen.

“Though we cherish our traditional values, they must give way to constitutional wisdom,” Reeves wrote.

If appealed, the Arkansas case would go before the 8th U.S. Circuit Court in St. Louis, and Mississippi’s would go to the 5th Circuit in New Orleans. The 5th Circuit is scheduled in January to hear arguments from a marriage case that originated in Texas.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.