The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday dismissed a legal challenge to a North Carolina law that allows some court officials to opt out of duties related to marrying gay and lesbian couples.

The court said that the three couples who filed the lawsuit lack standing, upholding a lower court's ruling.

“Plaintiffs concede that the state has not impeded or restricted their opportunity to get married,” the 3-judge panel wrote. “One same-sex couple married in 2014, another same-sex couple is engaged to be married, and the last pair of plaintiffs, an interracial couple, married in 1976. Nonetheless, they contend that their status as North Carolina taxpayers affords them standing to challenge SB2. Because plaintiffs’ claim does not fall within the narrow exception to the general bar against taxpayer standing, their suit must be dismissed.”

Senate Bill 2 allows magistrates who solemnize civil marriages to stop performing all marriages if they have a “sincerely held religious objection.”

Luke Largess is the lead counsel representing the plaintiffs.

“Senate Bill 2 expressly declares that their religious beliefs are superior to their oath of judicial office to uphold and support the federal constitution,” Largess said in filing the lawsuit. “And the law spends public money to advance those religious beliefs. That is a straightforward violation of the First Amendment.”

Largess told the Washington Blade that his team was reviewing the court's opinion.