Same-sex marriage:

A federal judge dismissed a challenge to a North Carolina law that allows magistrates to refuse to marry same-sex couples by citing religious beliefs. U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn in Asheville dismissed a lawsuit filed by three couples, two gay and one interracial. He ruled the couples lacked legal standing as taxpayers to sue and lacked evidence showing they were harmed directly by the law taking effect in June 2015. Still, the judge wrote there is potential someone could suffer real harm because of the law. The plaintiffs’ lawyers filed a notice Wednesday that they’ll appeal the ruling to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va. North Carolina is one of only two states (Mississippi is the other) with such religious-objection laws that are being enforced.