Alabama Supreme Court to consider request to stop gay weddings

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The Alabama Supreme Court has agreed to consider an emergency request by two conservative groups seeking to stop the same-sex weddings that have been underway in Alabama since Monday.

Gays and lesbians have been getting married in parts of Alabama since Monday after a federal judge declared Alabama's gay marriage ban unconstitutional.

Justices by a 6-2 vote Friday agreed to hear an emergency petition brought by the Alabama Policy Institute and Alabama Citizens Action Program. The organizations are asking the justices to join the legal position of Chief Justice Roy Moore.

Moore has urged probate judges to refuse the licenses that he believes are still forbidden under Alabama law.

Attorney Eric Johnston said the action seeks to keep gay marriage "on hold" until the U.S. Supreme Court issues an anticipated ruling in June on whether gays and lesbians nationwide have a fundamental right to marry.

"Four months is not going to make that much of a difference," Johnston said. "All we're after is to get some consistency in what is going on in Alabama. Probate judges are doing different things."

Moore argues that probate judges are not bound by the federal judge's decision because there were not defendants in the case. He also argues that probate judges, as members of the state judiciary, are part of a parallel court system and not under the authority of a district-level federal judge.

While the justices agreed to hear the petition, it is unclear how they will respond. The court set out a schedule for filing briefs.

"This request before the Alabama Supreme Court is nothing but an attempt at delaying the happiness that all families deserve -- a last-ditch, failing effort to stand in the way of the love we've seen in this historic week," said Ben Cooper, the board chairman of Equality Alabama, in a statement about the petition.

U.S. District Judge Callie V.S. Granade's order striking down Alabama's ban on gay marriage took effect Monday. Probate judges in Birmingham, Montgomery and other cities handed out marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Others did not, citing Moore's direction or uncertainty over what to do. As of Friday, about three-fourths of Alabama counties are giving marriage licenses to gays and lesbians.

Moore did not participate in the 6-2 vote.

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