DES MOINES (AP) - Attorneys representing five Republican lawmakers have filed court documents asking the Iowa Supreme Court to overturn a Polk County judge, who struck down a state law banning same-sex marriage in August.

The Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based organization that defends religious liberty, filed a friend of the court brief Tuesday for Representatives Dwayne Alons, Carmine Boal and Betty DeBoef and Senators Nancy Boettger and James Hahn.

The brief says Judge Robert Hanson abdicated his duty to be fair and neutral in considering a legal challenge to a 1998 state law filed by gay couples.

This comes after petitions calling for the impeachment of the judge were delivered to Legislature on January 24th.

The petitions, with over 6,000 signatures, were handed over Thursday by social conservative Bill Salier. He says the goal is to ``stop a runaway judiciary.''

Salier says Hanson overstepped his authority by legalizing gay marriage last summer. Hanson stayed his ruling while it's under appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court.

Impeaching a judge takes an act of the Legislature.

Critics of Hanson's ruling are pushing lawmakers for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Democrats who control both the House and Senate have taken the issue off the table and are dismissing Salier's effort.

House Speaker Pat Murphy says they're ``not doing anything on it.''