Kansas faces a court-imposed deadline to make its arguments as a judge considers whether to explicitly strike down the state’s ban on same-sex marriages.

The state has asked the court to dismiss as moot the lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union challenging the ban. Kansas contends it has recognized such unions since a U.S. Supreme Court decision last month legalizing them.

But the ACLU has argued that in other states facing similar lawsuits, courts have been entering final judgments getting rid of gay marriage bans, not simply dismissing cases as moot. ACLU contends neither the governor nor attorney general has issued any clear directives acknowledging the decision’s binding effect in Kansas.

A federal court has given Kansas until this Tuesday to respond before it makes its ruling.