DENVER — An appeals court Tuesday denied Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s request to assign 12 judges - instead of three - to decide whether the state’s ban on same-sex marriages is unconstitutional.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stated in a three-sentence order none of the court’s 12 full-time judges was in favor of Schmidt’s request.

The court rarely agrees to have its full roster of judges consider appeals. Its standard practice is to randomly assign three judges to a case.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 12 allowed same-sex marriages to begin in Kansas while the state fights at the Denver-based appeals court to keep the ban.

The state’s written arguments are due Dec. 29. Opposing arguments will be due later on behalf of two lesbian couples who sued to have the ban overturned. They contend it violates the Constitution’s protection of equal rights for all people.

The six-state appeals court earlier this year overturned similar bans in Utah and Oklahoma. Schmidt contended consideration by the full court is necessary, among other reasons, to resolve a conflict in decisions between different panels of the court in prior cases involving claims of sexual-orientation discrimination.