Alabama says they will refuse court orders to issue marriage licenses to gay couples [View all]

[davidn3600]

There's a big fight underway right now in Alabama, with a Judge overturning a marriage ban and state officials refusing to obey his order to issue licenses. Anti-gay politicians are threatening to ban all marriage licenses if the Supreme Court rules in favor of equality. And one lawmaker even wants to send clerks to jail if they issue licenses to anyone -- gay or straight.

Late on Friday, a Federal judge in Alabama ruled that the state's marriage ban is unconstitutional, and that the state must begin issuing licenses right away. Attorney General Luther Strange didn't care for that, and has asked for an indefinite stay. Meanwhile, a state association of judges has advised their members that they can just disregard the ruling. This is almost certainly dead wrong, and I'll talk about why in a minute. But as of this week, gay and lesbian couples are attempting to obtain marriage licenses in Alabama, so expect a tense standoff to play out over the next few days.

It's worth pointing out that last week President Obama made history by endorsing marriage equality in the State of the Union, saying that gay and lesbian couples getting married represents "America at its best." The last time anyone talked about marriage in a State of the Union was George W. Bush, calling for a federal constitutional ban, so this is a little better.

It makes good political sense to endorse marriage equality right now, because a new survey from Zogby shows that by 5 percentage points, voters are now less likely to vote for a candidate who opposes the freedom to marry. This puts some anti-equality Republicans in a tough spot. They can either admit they were wrong, and come out for marriage. Or they can double-down and get even more anti-gay.

That's what Mike Huckabee did last week. He said that if the Supreme Court rules in favor of equality, states don't have to obey the decision, and could still refuse to provide licenses. Obviously, that's not true at all, thanks to a litte-known document called the U.S. Constitution. Maybe Huckabee has just never read it as far as Article 6, which says "The Laws of the United States ... shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby." In fact, Huckabee's argument is identical to the one used in 1957 by another Arkansas Governor, Orval Faubus. He said the state didn't have to abide by the school desegregation ordered in Brown v. Board of Education, and President Eisenhauer had to send the National Guard to force him to comply. So Huckabee's great company here.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matt-baume/politician-wants-arrests_b_6543554.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592

The federal judge did just put a 14-day stay on the decision so the state can appeal the decision to the 11th circuit court in Atlanta, or the US Supreme Court.