Alabama Judge Refuses To Issue Same-Sex Marriage Licenses, Demands Federal Government Take Over

One Alabama county judge compares the Supreme Court’s marriage ruling to federal civil rights laws from the 1960s, and concludes the federal government must issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Elmore County Probate Judge John Enslen has filed a petition demanding the federal government take over the responsibility of issuing marriage licenses, but only to same-sex couples. Marriage licenses issued to different-sex couples should remain the responsibility of the states, he believes.

“Born solely from a strained interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, the new same-sex marriage license is a child of the federal government, not the State of Alabama,” Enslen’s petition reads, the AP reports today.

Enslen’s petition also demands the Alabama Supreme Court state that Alabama will recognize only those marriage licenses of same-sex couples that have been issued by the federal government. The federal government does not issue marriage licenses. 

Enslen seems to have been working on this for months. On his Facebook page in July he detailed his rationale, comparing the right of marriage same-sex couples now have to the civil rights guaranteed by 1960’s era legislation.

“Since those civil rights were created under the federal constitution, the enforcement of those rights were guaranteed through a series of federally enacted statutes,” Enslen wrote. “The newly established federal constitutional right to marry a person of the same sex should be no different,” he insists.

Judge Enslen, “a strong critic of gay marriage,” AL.com reports, “on Monday asked the Alabama Supreme Court to issue an order stating Alabama will no longer issue same-sex marriage licenses.”

Enslen, a licensed practicing attorney, has a history of being strongly opposed to marriage for same-sex couples. He has chosen to not issue marriage licenses to any couples, regardless of gender.

“No governmental institution or program will ever be able to successfully replace the role of the divinely ordained family in civilized society,” his campaign website reads.

“I will never perform a so-called same-sex marriage,” Enslen said in February. “A federal court can put me in jail for life, and I will still never perform a so-called same-sex marriage.”

 

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