Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore holding up a copy of the U.S. Constitution. Credit: Butch Dill/AP

In a notably provocative legal order Wednesday, Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore issued an order directing Alabama probate judges to not issue any marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Moore, himself an ardent opponent of marriage equality who has previously promised to resist the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell ruling, explained in his order that it remains unclear if Obergefell applies beyond the four states directly involved in that case. He noted that the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals and a district court of Kansas have both ruled that Obergefell did “not directly strike down the provisions” of other states’ bans on same-sex marriage, and thus a case brought by the Alabama Policy Institute (API) seeking to uphold Alabama’s ban remains unsettled.

Neither of these cases, however, support Moore’s suggestion that Obergefell is non-binding. The Eighth Circuit’s opinion does state that Obergefell does not directly apply to Nebraska, but it made this statement as part of a discussion about why that court retains jurisdiction over the case permitting it to […]