Probate judges never involved in federal decision Moore tells Enterprise GOP - The Southeast Sun: Elections

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Probate judges never involved in federal decision Moore tells Enterprise GOP

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Posted: Tuesday, February 10, 2015 4:00 pm | Updated: 3:40 pm, Wed Feb 11, 2015.

Alabama’s 67 probate judges were never involved in the federal decision about same-sex marriage and the law is clear.

That was the message Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore brought to those attending the Republican Party dinner meeting in Enterprise Monday evening.

Moore said he’s not shying away from the state versus federal court disagreement over Alabama’s sanctity of marriage amendment. “Let me tell you how it came about,” he said. “I had to make a decision about the same sex marriage out of Mobile—it was a very hard decision.”

Moore was referring to the legal case of Cari D. Searcy and Kimberly McKeand, a self-professed lesbian couple, who sued the state because Alabama would not recognize Searcy's adoption petition of their 9-year-old son.

The couple had been married in California and that marriage was not recognized by the state of Alabama.

United States District Judge Callie V.S. Granade ruled Jan. 23 on their case, saying that the Alabama law against same-sex marriage was unconstitutional.

The United States Supreme Court will ultimately decide the issue but Feb. 9, the high court denied Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange’s request to block same-sex marriages while his office appealed Granade’s decision.

Sunday night, Feb. 8, Moore issued an order to the state’s probate judges forbidding them from performing same sex marriages and from issuing marriage licenses for such.

“Then after telling the probate judges they didn’t have to follow this order, that it is federal courts’ intrusion into state sovereignty, that they weren’t parties to the case, they can’t be ordered to do anything—lo and behold, I got pulled out of the mess by somebody completely unexpected.” That person was Granade herself, Moore said.

While probate judges throughout the state took differing views on whether to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, the Mobile County Probate Court, under the direction of Probate Judge Don Davis, simply remained closed, Moore said.

That action prompted Searcy and McKeand to file a contempt motion that sought to force Davis to open the office and issue marriage licenses.

Granade reviewed and denied their motion Monday afternoon saying that the probate judge was “not a party to this case and the order of Jan. 23, 2015 did not directly order Davis to do anything.

“Judge Davis’s obligation to follow the Constitution (of the State of Alabama) does not arise from this court’s order,” Granade’s decision continued. “Plaintiffs (Searcy and McKeand) have offered no authority by which this court can hold Davis in contempt or order any of the relief sought by the plaintiffs. Accordingly, plaintiff’s motion for contempt and immediate relief is denied.”

Moore said the ruling is exactly what his point had been. “She said the probate judge is not a party to this case,” Moore said. “Lo and behold, that is exactly what I told the probate judges of this state.

“I had to make the decision,” Moore said. “I didn’t want to go out front on this issue but I couldn’t get anybody to take a stand so Sunday evening I felt like God led me to do what I said I wouldn’t do and that is issue an order to the probate courts.

“But because nobody stood up and did anything, we had same-sex marriages occur in this state today (Monday) and I’m kind of upset about that,” he added. “I am kind of upset about people who do one thing and say something else because of politics—I will always stand for principle no matter what it costs.

“Federal court jurisdiction is so misunderstood from the very top of our judicial branch to the very bottom. We’ve given in to federal authority without justification,” Moore said. “The ruling of federal judges can’t bind the state court judges. Period. It can’t bind them,” Moore said. “I simply said to the probate judges, ‘You are not bound by this, you are bound by the constitution of Alabama.’

“We’ve got some renegade probate judges out there who like to get their picture in the paper and make news with how many weddings they can perform,” he added. “The point is, if you’re going to stand for principal, stand for principal, don’t play politics.”

Moore said he has sent out Granade’s order to probate judges statewide and to the governor’s office. “She pulled me out of a mess—I don’t think she did it intentionally,” he said with a smile. “We’ve got serious times ahead of us, this has been a very difficult time for me and will continue to be so.

“I knew I was opening myself up,” Moore said. “But no matter what happens, we’ve stirred something in this nation that is waking up people all across the nation.”

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