joeross.me

Justices Thomas and Scalia were none too pleased that their colleagues refused to continue a stay on same-sex marriages in Alabama pending the Court’s resolution of the issue later this year:

Yet rather than treat like applicants alike, the Court looks the other way as yet another Federal District Judge casts aside state laws without making any effort to preserve the status quo pending the Court’s resolution of a constitutional question it left open in United States v. Windsor [citation omitted]. This acquiescence may well be seen as a signal of the Court’s intended resolution of that question. This is not the proper way to discharge our Article III responsibilities.

Sick burn. Anyway, Justices Thomas and Scalia aren’t the only robe-wearing opponents of the decision not to continue the stay. As the venerable SCOTUSBlog reported, Chief Justice Roy S. Moore of the Alabama Supreme Court said a in memo that if any Alabama probate judge issues marriage licenses to same-sex couples:

it would be the responsibility of the Chief Executive Officer of the State of Alabama, Governor Robert Bentley, in whom the Constitution vests “the supreme executive power of this state,”[citation omitted] to ensure the execution of the law.

In other words, nothing at all would happen.

I propose all of the gay couples getting married in Alabama in the wake of the stay’s denial mail a copy of their wedding portrait to Justice Moore, for good measure.

Documents mentioned in this post:

• Memo from Alabama Chief Justice Roy S. Moore to State Probate Judges (PDF)
• Order of the Supreme Court of the United States Denying Stay in the case of Alabama v. Searcy, and Dissent Thereto (PDF)