ALABAMA: Federal Court Issues Permanent Injunction Barring State From Enforcing Gay Marriage Ban

Roy Moore can suck it. AL.com reports:

A federal judge, citing the unwillingness of Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore and others to go along with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last year making same-sex marriage legal nationwide, this week entered a permanent injunction barring state officials from enforcing laws banning gay marriage.

U.S. District Judge Callie V. Granade, who is based in Mobile, issued the permanent injunction Tuesday in the case of Strawser v. Alabama, one of the lawsuits filed by same-sex couples around the state seeking marriage equality.

The permanent injunction binds all Alabama probate judges and others “who would seek to enforce the marriage laws of Alabama that prohibit or fail to recognize same-sex marriage.”

Scott McCoy, senior staff attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center issued a statement Wednesday regarding Granade’s order.

“This judgment makes permanent what most people have known all along – Alabama state officials must abide by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that legalized same-sex marriage,” McCoy stated. “State officials may not refuse to recognize the legal right of a same-sex couple to marry. This is the law of the land despite Roy Moore’s or the Alabama Supreme Court’s personal beliefs to the contrary.”

Also yesterday Moore was granted a two week delay in responding to the judicial ethics charges filed last month following a complaint from the SPLC. (Tipped by JMG reader TJ)