dalrymple-GovBismarck  (AP) Gov. Jack Dalrymple says North Dakota will abide by the Supreme Court ruling that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the United States.
 
     Dalrymple issued a statement calling the ruling “a federal mandate” and said North Dakota would comply.
 
     The ruling nullifies North Dakota’s nearly 11-year-old constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. In 2004, 73 percent of voters in the state approved the amendment.
 
     The state’s ban had been under fire, with two lawsuits challenging it in federal court.

 A North Dakota county has issued a marriage license to a same-sex couple in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the United States.
 
     Ward County Recorder Betty Braun says the county issued the license to two women at about 1 p.m. on Friday at its offices in Minot.
 
     Braun says officials had to cross out “bride” and “groom” and insert the word “spouse” on the marriage forms.
 
     It wasn’t clear if the Ward County couple, which Braun wouldn’t identify, was the first same-sex couple to get a North Dakota license. The state’s ban on gay marriage was the subject of a legal challenge before Friday’s sweeping high court ruling.

The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the U.S. Constitution provides same-sex couples the right to marry, handing a historic triumph to the American gay rights movement.

The court ruled 5-4 that the Constitution’s guarantees of due process and equal protection under the law mean that states cannot ban same-sex marriages. With the ruling, gay marriage will become legal in all 50 states.