Alabama chief justice halts same-sex marriage licenses News
Alabama chief justice halts same-sex marriage licenses

Alabama chief justice Roy Moore on Wednesday instructed state judges not to issue same-sex marriage licenses [order]. The Alabama Supreme Court [official website] had ruled [order, PDF] in March that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage is legal, and Moore’s order states that ruling remains in effect despite the June Supreme Court ruling finding such bans unconstitutional:

Until further decision by the Alabama Supreme Court, the existing orders of the Alabama Supreme Court that Alabama probate judges have a ministerial duty not to issue any marriage license contrary to the Alabama Sanctity of Marriage Amendment or the Alabama Marriage Protection Act remain in full force and effect.

Federal officials responded Wednesday expressing “grave concerns” [press release] about the order. Meanwhile, the order has caused confusion among probate judges, with some defying the order [Daily News report] and issuing same-sex marriage licenses.

The judicial upheaval regarding same-sex marriage in Alabama [JURIST op-ed] has captivated the nation as the political conflict continues to unfold. A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Alabama issued an order [ruling, PDF] in July that all Alabama counties must abide by a Supreme Court ruling allowing same-sex marriage. The order says that state probate judges may not discriminate against same-sex couples after the US Supreme Court ruled [JURIST report] that same-sex marriage is constitutional. The order affects all counties that are issuing marriage licenses, but does not affect those that have stopped issuing all marriage licenses in wake of the ruling.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Thomas Becket, former Chancellor of England, murdered by Henry II's knights

On December 29, 1170, Archbishop Thomas Becket, former Chancellor of England, was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral by knights acting in the name of Henry II.

Becket and Henry had been entangled in a power struggle over, among other things, criminal jurisdiction over clergy. Read a contemporary account of the murder of Thomas Becket.

Texas attains US statehood

On December 29, 1845, Texas became the twenty-eighth state to join the United States of America when US President James K. Polk signed the Ordinance of Annexation. Texas had a complicated path to statehood because it had formerly been part of Mexico and then an independent republic. The US Congress passed the Annexation of the Republic of Texas Joint Resolution on March 1, 1845. Voters in Texas then approved the Ordinance of Annexation in October, before it was approved by the US Congress and signed into law by President Polk on this day in 1845. The US Supreme Court later ruled in Texas v. White that, despite its unique path to statehood, Texas did not have the right to secede from the union.