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A federal judge hearing a lawsuit over the constitutionality of Wisconsin’s marriage amendment said in a ruling Monday there’s no reason to delay the case as requested by lawyers for the state.

U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb wrote that “abstaining or staying the case would serve no purpose but to delay the case.”

Eight same-sex couples sued Gov. Scott Walker, Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen and other officials in February, challenging the constitutionality of the 2006 amendment that defines marriage as being between one man and one woman.

On March 14, the state filed a motion asking that the case be stayed until the state Supreme Court issues a ruling in a case involving the state domestic partnership registry, or that the court abstain from hearing the case.

In her decision Crabb wrote that the state had not explained specifically how the decision in the domestic registry case is likely to change the issues in the marriage amendment case and whether the amendment violates the U.S. Constitution.