[JURIST] The North Carolina Court of Appeals [official website] affirmed [opinion, PDF] a lower court’s dismissal of a claim by two former magistrates that their rights were violated by 2014 guidance memos from the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) [official website] that said they could be fired if they refused to perform same-sex marriages. The magistrates resigned after the guidance was issued and filed this suit in April 2015. The magistrates sought a religious accommodation so that they would not be forced to violate their religious beliefs by performing same-sex marriages. The suit was filed against the North Carolina AOC and its interim director, but the court dismissed the claim for lack of standing because the AOC has no statutory authority to “appoint, sanction, suspend, remove, or generally supervise magistrates.”

Similar disagreement occurred among officials in the Alabama court system regarding same-sex marriage. In March the Alabama Supreme Court dismissed [JURIST report] petitions that sought a ruling declaring the state’s prohibition on same-sex marriage valid despite the US Supreme Court’s June ruling declaring same-sex marriage legal. In January Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore instructed state judges not to issue [JURIST report] same-sex marriage licenses. The Alabama Supreme Court had ruled in March 2015 that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage is legal and Moore’s order stated that ruling remained in effect despite the Supreme Court finding [JURIST report] such bans unconstitutional. Moore’s order had caused confusion among probate judges, with some defying the order and issuing same-sex marriage [JURIST backgrounder] licenses.