A judge for the for the US District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi [official website] on Monday extended a permanent injunction [order] prohibiting clerks in Mississippi from recusing themselves from issuing mariage licences to same-sex couples for religious reasons. Judge Carlton Reeves [official profile] prevented portions of HB 1523 [text, PDF] dealing with grounds for recusal from going into effect. HB 1523 is a religious freedom law signed by Governor Phil Bryant [official website] and portions are set to take effect Friday. In explicitly extending an existing injunction against the Circuit Cllerk of Hinds County to all other counties in the state, Reeves held that notice must be provided to the remaining clerks of their obligation to treat same-sex and opposite-sex couples equally.

Last week Reeves refused [JURIST report] to block the bill in it’s entirety and chose instead to hear challenges relating to the bill. Mississippi’s governor signed this bill into law in April, just days after a federal judge struck down [JURIST reports] Mississippi’s ban on adoption by same-sex partners. In November the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled that same-sex divorce is legal [JURIST report] within the state. In a 5-4 decision, the high court granted the divorce order citing to the recent US Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges [JURIST report] as the main legal authority.