And so the
standoff continues in Alabama after a federal judge declined to stay her ruling that ordered an Alabama probate judge to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
U.S. District Judge Callie Granade on Monday refused to stay her order to Mobile County Probate Judge Don Davis. Granade in January ruled that Alabama's gay-marriage ban is unconstitutional and told Davis that he could not refuse licenses because of a couple's sexual orientation.
Most states would consider the order of a federal judge binding. But not Alabama, where the state Supreme Court's chief justice, Roy Moore,
is above the law.
The Alabama Supreme Court, however, issued a ruling earlier this month telling all probate judges to refuse to issue the licenses.
Granade said the "overwhelming consensus" of courts across the country is that the bans are unconstitutional.
Alabama once again takes its place in history as daring to be different.
Davis, the probate judge, has now stopped issuing marriage licenses altogether to make certain he is not violating either order.