Oklahoma and Alabama Laws Designed to Make It More Difficult for Gay and Lesbian Couples to Marry Will Backfire

News reports indicate that the Oklahoma House has approved a bill that transfers the power to issue marriage licenses from clerks of court to members of the clergy, and that the Alabama House has approved a bill that would explicitly authorize judges and members of the clergy to decline to officiate at specific marriages on account of religious objections. Neither law is constitutional. Both will have serious unintended consequences.

Same Sex Marriage in Alabama - Showing Respect

A few days ago when last I posted on this topic Chief Justice Ray Moore stood in the courthouse door barring entry to same sex couples seeking marriage licenses. He had ordered Probate Judges across the state to disobey the federal court order striking down the Alabama constitutional provisions and statutes that prohibited same sex marriage. The Chief Justice did not purport to issue an injunction, nor did he propose to punish errant Probate Judges who might choose to obey the order of the District Court. Instead he called upon the governor of the state to enforce the law, presumably by taking some unspecified action against such judges. What happened? And what happens now?