Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore.
Credit: AP Photo/Dave Martin
Alabama’s top judicial official, Roy Moore, issued a memo on Tuesday telling the state’s probate judges that they’re not required to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples though a federal court has ruled they must.
It was the latest exchange over a federal judge’s decision in early January striking down Alabama’s gay marriage ban. After Moore said he believed the ruling only applied to the state attorney general, the federal judge responded that it meant state judges had to provide the licenses.
Moore, Alabama’s controversial state Supreme Court known for installing a plaque of the Ten Commandments in 2001, issued a memo to the probate judges a few hours after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to hear the state’s challenge to ending the gay marriage ban.
“I hope this memorandum will assist weary, beleaguered, and perplexed probate judges to unravel the meaning of the actions of the federal district court […]
