Same-sex marriage in Arkansas has been legal since the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26, 2015, in which the court struck down same-sex marriage bans nationwide. Prior to this, same-sex marriage in Arkansas was briefly legal for a period beginning on May 9, 2014, as a result of a ruling by Sixth Judicial Circuit Judge Chris Piazza striking down the state's constitutional and statutory bans on same-sex marriage as violating the U.S. Constitution. Approximately 541 same-sex couples received marriage licenses in several counties before the Arkansas Supreme Court stayed his ruling pending appeal on May 16, 2014. On November 25, 2014, a federal district court struck down Arkansas's ban on same-sex marriage. The judge stayed her ruling in Jernigan v. Crane pending appeal. After the Obergefell ruling, same-sex couples began obtaining marriage licenses in Arkansas beginning on June 26, 2015. Legal history Statute In 1997, the Arkansas General Assembly passed a statute banning same-sex marriage and the recognition of same-sex marriages performed out of state. The bill was signed into law by Governor Mike Huckabee. Constitution On November 2, 2004, Arkansas voters approved Amendment 3, a state-initiated constitutional amendment that prohibited the recognition of same-sex marriage, as well as anything "identical or substantially similar to marital status" in the state of Arkansas. On June 27, 2013, a day after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Windsor, Arkansans for Equality submitted proposed language for a 2014 ballot measure that would repeal the state's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. On July 9, 2013, a different group, the Arkansas Initiative for Marriage Equality (AIME), which was formed in November 2012, submitted to the Arkansas Attorney General proposed language for the Arkansas Marriage Equality Amendment, a similar ballot measure but instead for the 2016 ballot. Attorney General Dustin McDaniel rejected the proposal for the 2014 ballot on July 12 and again on August 12, and the proposal for the 2016 ballot on September 18 and October 7, each time citing problems with the wording. On September 19, he accepted the proposal for the 2014 ballot and on November 7, he accepted the one for the 2016 ballot. Both initiatives, however, were not put on the ballot. Lawsuits Wright v. Arkansas On July 2, 2013, eleven same-sex couples, some of whom had married in Iowa and some of whom were registered as domestic partners in Eureka