OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld a lower judge’s ruling striking down Nebraska’s now-negated ban on gay marriage and civil unions as unconstitutional.

The decision by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday was largely a formality, as a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in late June legalized gay marriage across the county.

But the formality was necessary, the appeals court said, because while the Supreme Court’s ruling grants gay couples the right to marry nationwide, the ruling came on appeals regarding the same-sex marriage bans in Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee — not Nebraska.

Tuesday’s ruling came in the case of seven same-sex couples in Nebraska who sued last year for the right to marry in Nebraska or to have their marriages in other states recognized by Nebraska.