A senior federal trial judge in Omaha on Monday struck down Nebraska’s ban on same-sex marriage, finding that it was a form of discrimination that failed a tougher constitutional standard.  District Court Judge Joseph F. Bataillon put his ruling on hold for a week, to allow the state to seek a longer postponement from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

If the ruling withstands a postponement request and thus goes into effect, it would make Nebraska the thirty-eighth state in which same-sex marriages are permitted.

The Eighth Circuit Court is one of only four federal appeals courts that have not yet issued rulings on the same-sex marriage issue, in the new round of such rulings.  Among those that have ruled, all but one — the Sixth Circuit Court — have struck down such bans.   The Supreme Court is reviewing the Sixth Circuit decision this Term.