Oregon District Judge Michael McShane said he'll issue his ruling at noon Pacific time on a constitutional challenge to the state's gay-marriage ban, according to the Associated Press.
Officials in Oregon's largest county, Multnomah, say they'll begin issuing marriage licenses immediately if his ruling allows it, the AP reported.
McShane hasn't signaled how he'll rule, but the state refused to mount a defense of the voter-approved ban, and both sides asked that it be found unconstitutional, according to the AP.
The judge last week denied a request by the National Organization for Marriage to defend the law on behalf of its Oregon members, the AP reported.
Four gay and lesbian couples brought the Oregon cases, arguing the state's marriage laws unconstitutionally discriminate against them and exclude them from a fundamental right to marriage, according to the AP.
In refusing to defend the ban, Democratic Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said there were no legal arguments that could support it in light of decisions last year by the U.S. Supreme Court. She sided with the couples, asking the judge to overturn the ban, the AP reported.
Gay rights groups previously said they've collected enough signatures to force a statewide vote on gay marriage in November, but they said they would discard the signatures and drop their campaign if the court rules in their favor by May 23, according to the AP.
The Supreme Court last year struck down the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which barred the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriage, the AP reported. It determined the law improperly deprived gay couples of due process.
Federal or state judges in Idaho, Oklahoma, Virginia, Michigan, Texas, Utah and Arkansas recently have found state same-sex marriage bans to be unconstitutional with judges in Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee also ordering for the state to recognize same-sex marriages from other states, according to the AP.
