Summary: A federal judge issued an order on Thursday that forces the probate judge in Mobile County, Alabama to issue same-sex couples marriage licenses.
Mobile County, Alabama has been ordered to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples by a federal judge this week, according to The Washington Post.
U.S. District Judge Callie V.S. Granade issued her ruling in eight pages and reiterated that the ban of the state has been defeated. Her ruling also clarified that the probate judge in Mobile County, Don Davis, must follow the decision.
To read more stories about same-sex marriage, click here.
The ruling from Granade only applies to Mobile County, but gay rights groups hope it will clarify things for all 67 Alabama probate judges in the state. More than half of these judges refused to issue same-sex couples marriage licenses when it became legal on Monday.
Some of the judges who refused did so because of defiance, while others were confused due to a letter sent on Sunday by Alabama chief justice Roy Moore. Moore ordered the state’s probate judges not to issue licenses to same-sex couples.
Gay rights groups are now saying that the ruling from Granade should clear any issues or confusion related to the law.
Shannon Minter, the legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said, “We’re very happy that our plaintiffs and other same-sex couples in Mobile can now obtain marriage licenses and the protections of marriage, and we hope this will provide sufficient guidance to probate judges in other parts of the state.”
To read more stories about Alabama, click here.
Moore spoke to Chris Cuomo of CNN on Thursday to defend his letter that caused the confusion.
“No judge of the United States or the federal district court has the right to invent the definition of marriage, which is not even contained in the United States Constitution, and that’s the problem. We have people going in trying to mandate the state of Alabama that the ‘sanctity of marriage’ amendment in our [state] Constitution is wrong, and that’s simply not right to do.”
Will orders be issued for the remaining probate judges in Alabama? Cast your vote using our poll.
Source: Washington Post