ALABAMA: Plaintiffs Compare Local Judges To George Wallace, Ask Federal Judge To Clarify Her Ruling On Same-Sex Marriage

Last night the association that represents Alabama’s probate judges declared that Friday’s ruling only applies to the one couple who filed the suit. Unlike most states where marriage licenses are issued by county clerks, that duty is the responsibility of those judges in Alabama. Today the plaintiffs filed a motion which opposes the state’s request for a stay and asks that the judge clarify her ruling. From the motion:

Clarification is necessary as the Probate Judges association in Alabama have assumed the position like George Wallace at the schoolhouse door staring defiantly upon this Court’s order reasoning that not all citizens of Alabama are entitled to the same rights and privileges afforded under the Constitution of the United States and that as Probate Judges “it is [their] duty to issue marriage licenses in accordance with Alabama law and that means [they] can not legally issue marriage licenses to same sex couples.” Alabama Probate Judges Association statement to the press on January 24, 2015. It is respectfully submitted that this Court’s order declaring Ala. Const. Art. 1§ 36.03 (2006) and Ala. Code 1974 §30-1-19 unconstitutional for violation of the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment shall meet with immediate defiance and confusion without further clarification.

BOOM. Read the full motion.