Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette moved to quicken an appeal against a federal judge’s ruling on Michigan’s gay marriage ban by filing to expedite it.

On Friday, Schuette filed a petition with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit to expedite the appeal for U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman’s ruling, which declared the ban unconstitutional, according to a statement from Schuette.

The appeal was supposed to reach a panel of judges for review, but Schuette requested a single “en banc” hearing with all 15 panel judges. This would bypass the initial panel review and quicken the appeal’s timeframe before it ultimately reaches the Supreme Court.

“My responsibility as Attorney General to defend the Michigan Constitution and the voters’ decision to define marriage is important, and the sooner we reach a final resolution from the courts, the better,” Schuette said in a statement.

En banc hearings are typically reserved for more significant cases, but are not unprecedented, Schuette said. The Court of Appeals allowed Grutter v. Bollinger, a case on University of Michigan Law School admissions policies, to have an en banc hearing.

Schuette filed the initial appeal against the lifting of the ban on gay marriage in Michigan in March following Friedman’s ruling on the DeBoer v. Snyder trial. At the time, Schuette also issued a stay to keep the ruling from taking effect until an appeal could be processed.