Judge says Alabama must perform gay ‘marriages’
A federal judge has issued a permanent
injunction against enforcing Alabama's law banning same-sex “marriage,” despite
the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision upholding that law.
In March 2015, shortly before the U.S. Supreme
Court's Obergefell decision, which ruled that same-sex "marriage" is
a Constitutional right, the state Supreme Court had ordered probate judges to
stop issuing same-sex marriage licenses, saying the state law remained in effect.
In January of this year, Chief Justice Roy
Moore reaffirmed that 2015 state Supreme Court decision. In an Administrative
Order he reminded the state's judges that the ban on same-sex
"marriage" remained in effect, and advised them not to issue marriage
licenses to same-sex couples.
Then, in March of this year, the state Supreme
Court issued a
170-page ruling rejecting the Obergefell decision.
However, U.S. District Judge Callie V. Granade
ruled last week that state officials are bound by the United States Supreme
Court’s decision.
Judge Granade’s injunction is
permanent, preventing judges and any official "who would seek to enforce
the marriage laws of Alabama that prohibit or fail to recognize same-sex
marriage” from doing so.
The same judge, a George W. Bush appointee,
ruled in January 2015 that Alabama's Sanctity of Marriage Amendment and the
Alabama Marriage Protection Act were unconstitutional.
It is unclear what practical effect Granade’s
decision will have, since many state officials are reportedly already issuing
same-sex “marriage” licenses.
Meanwhile, one prominent marriage advocate
questioned what authority Judge Granade has to issue the injunction.
“This federal judge has no authority over the
Alabama Supreme Court," Matthew Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty
Counsel "This is by no means the final order because
this lower federal court cannot direct the Alabama Supreme Court to act one way
or another.”
"Judge Granade...is acting as if she is
the top appellate court in the state," Staver explained in a Liberty
Counsel press release.
"The only Court that has authority over
the Alabama Supreme Court is the U.S. Supreme Court. The other parties are free
to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case but they have refused to do
so. Judge Granade is not the U.S. Supreme Court."
Other state Supreme Court justices have agreed
with Chief Justice Moore.
Judge Tom Parker wrote in
March, "Obergefell is the latest example of judicial despotism. It is a
decision not based on law, but on the bare majority's philosophy of life. For
the states to honor such a decision as legitimate is to bow our knee to the
self-established judicial despots of America."
