MONTGOMERY, Alabama, Jan. 6, 2015 (Gephardt Daily) — The chief justice of Alabama’s Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered his state’s probate judges not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples ─ an action in direct defiance of the 2015 United States Supreme Court decision that made gay marriages legal in the U.S.
State Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy S. Moore stated his reasons in his order.
“Confusion and uncertainty exist among the probate judges of this state as to the effect of Obergefell on the ‘existing orders,'” Moore wrote, referencing the March 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court case that led to the U.S. Supreme Court decision.
“I am not at liberty to provide any guidance to Alabama probate judges on the effect of Obergefell on the existing orders of the Alabama Supreme Court,” he wrote. “That issue remains before the entire (Alabama Supreme) Court which continues to deliberate on the matter.”
Moore wrote that the “legal analysis is yet to be determined,” and the “confusion” over the law has an adverse effect on the administration of justice in Alabama, in information published by NPR.
