After the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals today struck down Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage, the Attorney General of North Carolina has announced he will stop defending his state’s ban in court.
Saying it is time for the state to “stop making arguments we will lose,” North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper just announced he will stop defending the highly-contentious Amendment One, his state’s same-sex marriage ban in court.
“Cooper said the North Carolina law will ‘almost surely be overturned,’ and that prosecutors will drop opposition to challenges to state’s same-sex marriage ban,” WTVD reports.
In a press press conference late this afternoon, Cooper said “the State of North Carolina will acknowledge the 4th Circuit opinion, that marriage is a fundamental right, and that our office believes that the judges in North Carolina are bound by this 4th Circuit decision.” QNotes has the audio of the press conference.
Cooper made clear that no same-sex marriages in North Carolina could take place in light of this decision.
Cooper, a Democrat, is expected to enter the governor’s race in 2016.Â
Â