As Alabama's chief justice faces removal from the state Supreme Court bench, the same U.S. judge responsible for taking down Alabama's same-sex marriage ban is now permanently barring state judges from denying same-sex couples marriage licenses in the state.
On June 7, U.S. District Judge Callie V.S. Granade issued the permanent injunction in the case of Strawser v. Strange.
Granade's final ruling this week officially declared Alabama judges may no longer deny same-sex marriage licenses based on the Sanctity of Marriage Amendment, the Alabama Marriage Protection Act, any other state law or rulings from state courts such as the Alabama Supreme Court.
"Judge Don Davis, Judge Tim Russell and the members of the Defendant Class may not deny them a license on the ground that they are same-sex couples or because it is prohibited by the Sanctity of Marriage Amendment and the Alabama Marriage Protection Act or by any other Alabama law or Order," Granade's final judgement reads.
Granade cited instances dating back to her original 2015 ruling as a reason for this week's judgement. In March, the state Supreme Court, still under the guidance of now-removed Moore, refused to withdraw an order stating Alabama was not bound by Granade's prior rulings.
"However, the Alabama Supreme Court did not vacate or set aside its earlier writ of mandamus directing Alabama’s probate judges to comply with the Alabama laws that were held unconstitutional by this Court," she wrote.
In January 2015, Granade issued her first order striking down Alabama's same-sex marriage ban, but delayed the effect of that order until February. In March 2015, the Alabama Supreme Court issued an order compelling state probate judges to refuse marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.
"It is also apparent that certain Alabama state courts do not view this Court’s ruling in Searcy as binding precedent, as demonstrated by the writ of mandamus issued by the Alabama Supreme Court on March 3, 2015, requiring probate judges to discontinue the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples," Granade wrote in the order.
Most counties effectively ceased issuing marriage license's following the Alabama court's March ruling. Granade issued another ruling in May 2015 reinforcing her earlier ruling, but stayed the ruling until the Supreme Court's final decision.
On June 26, 2015, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that all same-sex couples have a fundamental right to married based on the equal protection and due process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Moore again issued an administrative ruling in January of this year stating the Obergefell decision didn't apply to Alabama. He again ordered state judges to discontinue issuing marriage licenses. The court later withdrew Moore's order.
Last month, Moore was removed from the bench following a complaint filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center with the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission following Moore's repeated attempts to fight U.S. Supreme Court and other federal court decisions.
Moore will now face a trial before the Alabama Court of the Judiciary for a second possible removal. Moore was removed once before in 2003 by the COJ for denying a federal order to remove a two-ton granite 10 Commandments monument from a state judiciary building.
He must return a plea response to the state's charges by June 20. The date was originally set for June 6.
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