The action by Carpenter led Attorney General Chris Koster to file an injunction preventing more marriage licenses from being issued to same-sex couples.

Koster supports same-sex marriage but said he has a responsibility to defend Missouri law. On Monday morning, one of his assistants, Jeremiah Morgan, reminded Judge Burlison that 71 percent of voters in August 2004 supported a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, and that two decisions last year by the U.S. Supreme Court should not “disrupt a state’s sovereignty.” Morgan also argued the Kansas City case Thursday.

City Counselor Winston Calvert told the judge that while voters statewide approved amending the constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman, the majority of St. Louis voters voted against it.

Marriage is a fundamental right of all citizens, he argued. The 10-year-old amendment “categorically denies that right to an entire class of people,” Calvert said. Laws have evolved over time, he said, referring to extending voting rights to women and African-Americans, and changing laws that once banned inmates, those who have epilepsy and interracial couples from marrying.

No matter which way the judges in Kansas City and St. Louis rule, both cases are expected to be appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court.