Montgomery, AL - The Alabama Supreme Court has once again sided with Liberty Counsel in a historic case affirming natural marriage in the state. The Court's new order directs Mobile County Probate Judge Don Davis to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, which Judge Davis had previously done under the order of U.S. District Judge Callie Granade when she purported to overturn Alabama's marriage laws. The Alabama Supreme Court roundly refuted Judge Granade in a landmark ruling on March 3, granting Liberty Counsel's petition to stop the state's probate judges from following Judge Granade's faulty opinion.
In the new order, the Alabama Supreme Court reiterates that Judge Granade's prior opinion had no force beyond the parties in her case. "Our opinion of March 3 serves as binding statewide precedent. To ensure compliance with that precedent, we also entered...an order specifically directing Alabama probate judges not to issue marriage licenses contrary to that precedent," the Supreme Court of Alabama ruled yesterday. Judge Davis now joins all of Alabama's probate judges under the Supreme Court's binding ruling to obey Alabama's marriage laws.
"Once again the Alabama Supreme Court has upheld natural marriage and the rule of law with unassailable reasoning," said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. "Last week's ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court was a game-changer in that state and perhaps the entire United States. The Supreme Court of Alabama is putting the state judiciary up against the federal judiciary or anyone else who wants to come up with some cockeyed view that somehow the United States Constitution now births some newfound notion of same-sex marriage."
"The marriage licenses already issued to homosexual couples in Alabama by Judge Davis and others are null and void," Staver said. "The fact is it was not legal to issue the same-sex marriage licenses in the first place, and it is not legal now."
Liberty Counsel represents Alabama Policy Institute ("API") and Alabama Citizens Action Program ("ALCAP") in the Alabama Supreme Court case.
Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics.
