Alabama county judges using segregation-era law to avoid issuing licenses for same-sex marriages [View all]

[gollygee]

http://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2015/10/03/alabama-judges-use-segregation-era-law-to-avoid-gay-marriage

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — As Alabama's all-white Legislature tried to preserve racial segregation and worried about the possibility of mixed-race marriages in 1961, lawmakers rewrote state law to make it optional for counties to issue marriage licenses.

Now, some judges who oppose same-sex marriage are using the long-forgotten amendment to get out of the marriage business altogether rather than risk issuing even one wedding license to gays or lesbians. In at least nine of Alabama's 67 counties, judges have quit issuing any marriage licenses since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex unions in June.

While the precise reason that lawmakers gave for making the 1961 change has been lost to time, the 54-year-old provision says probate courts "may" issue rather than "shall" issue wedding licenses.