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The Alabama Supreme Court ordered the state's probate judges
Tuesday to stop issuing marriage licenses to gay couples, a decision that flies
in the face of numerous rulings by federal judges in Alabama and other states
across the country who have said banning gay marriage violates the U.S.
Constitution.
The all-Republican court sided with a pair of conservative
organizations Tuesday in ruling that the U.S. Constitution doesn't alter the
judges' duty to administer state law, which defines marriage as between only
one man and one woman.
Six justices concurred in the 134-page opinion, which wasn't
signed, but the court's most outspoken opponent of gay marriage, Chief Justice
Roy Moore, recused himself.
Gay marriages began in some Alabama counties on Feb. 9
following a decision by U.S. District Judge Callie Granade of Mobile, who ruled
that both Alabama's constitutional and statutory bans on same-sex marriage were
unconstitutional.
The court's ruling Tuesday came in response to a request
from the Alabama Policy Institute and the Baptist-run Alabama Citizens Action
Program to halt same-sex unions after Granade's ruling.
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