GOP State Rep. Sends Letter To All Clerks: ‘Ignore The Recent SCOTUS Opinion Redefining Marriage’

A state lawmaker just sent a letter to every county clerk in Tennessee asking them to ignore the Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage for same-sex couples. 

Tennessee state Rep. Rick Womick one week ago today sent all 95 county clerks a letter – on his House of Representatives, State of Tennessee letterhead, indicating it is an official document from the office of a state lawmaker – asking them to ignore last month’s Supreme Court ruling on marriage for same-sex couples.

“You did not take an oath to uphold an ‘opinion’ from five justices of the SCOTUS. Therefore, I am asking that each of you ignore the recent SCOTUS opinion redefining marriage, uphold our State Constitution, and issue marriage certificates to one man and one woman only,” Womick’s letter, below, reads.

Rep. Womick writes that the state attorney general and governor’s office contacted notified the clerks “to uphold the SCOTUS opinion or face a discrimination lawsuit. Such intimidation from this administration is unconstitutional and should not be tolerated. Each of you are publicly elected servants of your county, held accountable only to the people that elect you.”

Rep. Womick’s legal reasoning is far from sound and should any clerk actually use his letter to defy the law they might run into some legal trouble of their own. Unsurprising, since Womack is an original co-sponsor of Tennessee’s HB 615, “Establishes the Bible as the Official State Book.”

Womick also writes, “the four dissenting justices of the Supreme Court have empowered each of you, making it absolutely clear the unconstitutional actions of the SCOTUS. They have stated that not only did the SCOTUS not have the authority to even hear the Obergefell v. Hodges case, but the court did not possess the power to issue an opinion as to the constitutionality of the law.”

Of course, the minority opinion is just that, an opinion and not legally binding since it’s not the majority opinion. 

Womick, who is a member of Focus on the Family, also falsely states, “two of the five justices, Justices Ginsburg and Kagan, were required by federal statute to recuse themselves from the Obergefell v. Hodges case, because of their violation of federal judicial ethics and their biased conduct in having performed same sex marriage ceremonies.”

The two-page letter, filled with bold-faced and italicized type and exclamation points, rambles on and on, quotes Jefferson, and concludes, “I will stand for our Republic and I will rebel and fight against all who support this oligarchy of judicial tyranny! I hope you will do the same in each of your counties.” 

Chris Sanders with the Tennessee Equality Project tells WRCB that Womick “needs to let it go.”

“There is no chance a county clerk is going to win if this goes to court,” Sanders adds. “They will lose and they will be liable for those legal fees.”

WRCB notes that Womick “has not received a response from any clerks indicating they would ignore the Supreme Court’s ruling.”

 

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