WASHINGTON — Lawyers for Louisiana have joined with Michigan officials in asking the Supreme Court to resolve the question of whether states can ban same-sex couples from marrying.

In the state's response filed at the Supreme Court on Tuesday, Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell argues that the justices should take the case because the state's "case squarely implicates a spiraling national controversy that has already nullified the marriage laws of over twenty States and spawned a four-to-one circuit split."

The filing came quickly, as the same-sex couple plaintiffs in the case challenging Louisiana's ban had only asked the Supreme Court to take up their case on Nov. 20.

Moreover, the response from Louisiana came before the responses to other petitions filed earlier by same-sex couples in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The Michigan response — also supporting Supreme Court review — was filed this past week.

The petitions from states other than Louisiana followed the ruling from the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on Nov. 6 upholding all four states' bans. The Louisiana petition was different, asking the Supreme Court to take up review of the case before the appeals court — the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals — issues a decision in the case, which is pending in the appeals court currently and is slated for arguments on Jan. 9.

"Louisiana agrees with petitioners that 'the decision below is uniquely appropriate for certiorari before judgment and consideration along with the Sixth Circuit ruling,'" the state's lawyers told the justices.