North Alabama – Probate Judges across the northwest corner of the state have put a hold on issuing marriage licenses until somebody with final authority instructs them on how to proceed.
This morning, the United States Supreme Court said this morning that it would not review a lower court decision that paved the way for same sex marriages in the state. Already in Montgomery and Birmingham marriage licenses have been granted to same sex couples, but apparently even that policy is now on hold. As far as Northwest Alabama is concerned no marriage licenses will be issued until Tuesday at the earliest.
11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals – Atlanta
“We just have to wait and find out the course we must take,” said Lauderdale County Probate Judge James Hall. “Right now, we have conflicting information coming from the U.S. Supreme Court and Chief Justice Moore.” Chief Justice Roy Moore issued an order expressing that Probate Judges ignore the Federal Courts.
Probate Judges in Lauderdale, Madison, Morgan, Limestone, Colbert and Franklin County Probate Judges have put the license approval process on hold.
In January Callie Grande, U.S. District Judge, issues a ruling that Alabama’s statutory and Constitutional band on same sex marriage was unconstitutional and gave Alabama until today to sort out how to open the process up for all couples equally.
Colbert County Probate Judge Daniel Rosser
Probate Judges in our Northwest Counties are pretty much all following the policy that Colbert County Probate Judge Daniel Rosser has implemented.
Here is his written statement:
“Because of the confusion between conflicting orders from the Federal District Court and Alabama’s Chief Justice, at this time I am merely accepting marriage applications. I will be in a position to either reject the applications or to process them and issue the appropriate license once I have received further clarity on this conflict. I will re-evaluate my position before my office opens on Tuesday.”
