Alabama Probate Judges Defy Same-Sex Marriage Order

Alabama became the latest state to allow same-sex marriage, as many probate judges defied an order by the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and began issuing licenses and performing wedding ceremonies. 

This morning, United States Supreme Court Justices denied a request by the Alabama attorney general to extend a hold on a judge’s ruling overturning the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.  The attorney general, Luther Strange, asked the Court to halt the weddings until the justices settle the issue nationwide when they take it up this year. 

Today’s marriages came despite a dramatic show of defiance toward the federal judiciary. In Birmingham, Judge Alan King of Probate Court issued a license to two women shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court denied the Alabama attorney general’s request to extend a hold on marriages.  Judge King said he was abiding by the federal court order from January that determined Alabama’s statutory and constitutional bans on same-sex marriage were unconstitutional.

See Alan Blinder, Same-Sex Marriages Proceed in Alabama as State Judge’s Order is Defied, The New York Times, Feb. 9, 2015.