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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Alabama Still Defiant |on Same-Sex Marriage

(CN) - Alabama's highest court, defiant in the face of a federal judge's January ruling that the state's ban on same-sex marriages is unconstitutional, now appears poised to at least thumb its nose at the U.S. Supreme Court.

On Monday it ordered the state's probate judges not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples for 25 days, and solicited legal briefs -- to be submitted by July 6 - effectively intended to reargue the issue.

The Alabama Supreme Court's instructions to the probate judges is pegged to the 25-periiod period the U.S. Supreme Court allows for filing a petition to reheard any of its cases.

The order came hours after the Association of County Commissions of Alabama advised the probate judges by memo that should begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples beginning at 10 a.m. Monday.

The events in Alabama come as a strange coda to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on Friday in Obergefell v. Hodges which struck down bans on same-sex marriage in all 50 states.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama said that probate judges could be found in contempt of court if they refuse to issue the licenses.

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