MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin’s Republican attorney general is conceding the fight to preserve the state’s gay marriage ban is over and he encourages everyone to now administer the law “fairly and impartially.”

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned away appeals from five states, including Wisconsin, seeking to prohibit same-sex marriages. The order immediately ends delays on marriages in those states.

Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen had filed Wisconsin’s appeal in hopes of preserving a 2006 state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

Van Hollen says in a statement that the state’s attorneys “admirably” defended the ban “whether they agreed with the underlying policy question.”

Van Hollen says, “I encourage everyone to respect the court’s action and to administer the law fairly and impartially.”

Gov. Scott Walker, challenger react to gay marriage decision

Update: 12:30 p.m. CDT

MADISON, Wis.– Gov. Scott Walker says the fight over same-sex marriage in Wisconsin is over.

And his Democratic opponent Mary Burke says Walker was on the wrong side of history for supporting the ban.

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected appeals from five states seeking to prohibit same-sex marriages, paving the way for marriages to start in Wisconsin, Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah and Virginia.

Walker voted for the 2006 state constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage, and he says his position has not changed. But he says the fight over the issue is over with the Supreme Court’s action.

Burke says the court’s action is an important step forward for the state and that Walker and other opponents of gay marriage “are squarely on the wrong side of history.”

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