DALLAS (AP) — A Texas appeals court says the state's attorney general can't block a divorce granted to two women legally married in another state.
An Austin judge had granted a divorce last February to the couple who were married in Massachusetts in 2004.
Texas Attorney Gregg Abbott filed a motion to intervene in the case a day after the divorce was granted. He argued the judge didn't have the jurisdiction because of Texas' constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
The judge ruled the attorney general's motion wasn't timely.
The state appeals court in Austin agreed Friday, saying Abbott didn't have standing to appeal.
But the ruling doesn't settle the debate over same-sex divorce in Texas. A different appeals court in Dallas has ruled gay couples married in other states can't divorce in Texas.
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