US Supreme Court refuses to block gay marriage in Alabama

By: 10 years ago

Same-sex couple Dee Bush and Laura Bush hold hands as they wait for the Jefferson County courthouse doors to open so they can be legally married, Monday, Feb. 9, 2015, in Birmingham, Alabama. AP

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama— The US Supreme Court refused to block same-sex marriages in Alabama on Monday, an order that one dissenting justice said could be seen as a signal that his colleagues have already decided gay and lesbian couples have a right to marry nationwide.

Alabama, one of the country’s most conservative states, began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples promptly after the Supreme Court turned down the state’s request to extend a hold that a federal judge had placed on gay marriages.

The Alabama order comes as the Supreme Court heads toward a potentially historic, nationwide ruling on the divisive social issue. Last month, the high court announced it would hear arguments on whether gay couples have a right to marry everywhere in America, and a decision is expected by late June.

In a dissenting opinion, conservative Justice Clarence Thomas criticized his colleagues for refusing to block same-sex marriages in Alabama until the high court resolves the issue nationwide in a few months.

Thomas said the court’s Alabama order could be seen as a signal that the justices already have decided they will declare that same-sex couples have a right to marry under the Constitution.

Alabama became the 37th US state where gays can legally wed. Same-sex matrimony is now banned in only 13 of the 50 states, following a flurry of legal victories for gay marriage advocates in recent years. Two-thirds of Americans now live in states where gay marriage is legal.

A federal judge in January ruled that the Alabama ban was unconstitutional but she put a hold on the order until Monday to give the state time to appeal. Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange had asked the Supreme Court to extend the hold because of the high court’s expected nationwide ruling on gay marriage later this year.

Shortly after the Supreme Court’s decision, probate judges in the southern state began granting licenses to couples, some of whom had been lined up for hours and exited courthouses to applause from supporters.

One of the licenses went to Dee and Laura Bush, who have been together for seven years and have five kids between them.

“It is great that we were able to be part of history,” said Dee Bush. After receiving her license, she and Laura walked outside to a park where a minister was performing wedding ceremonies to cheers from crowds.

Gay marriage remains deeply divisive in Alabama.

The state’s Chief Justice Roy Moore had made an 11th-hour attempt to block the weddings, ordering all probate judges to refuse to issue licenses.

Most probate judges issued the documents anyway.

Critics said Moore had no authority to tell county probate judges to enforce a law that a federal judge already ruled unconstitutional.

“This is a pathetic, last-ditch attempt at judicial fiat by an Alabama Supreme Court justice — a man who should respect the rule of law rather than advance his personal beliefs,” said Sarah Warbelow, legal director of the Human Rights Campaign.

Moore has been one of the state’s most outspoken critics of gay marriage; in 2002 he called homosexuality an “evil” in a custody ruling.

Susan Watson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, said she has heard of four counties where judges have refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

She said the judges face the risk of lawsuits for refusing.