MOBILE, Ala — As probate courts around Alabama opened on Friday, a day after a federal judge barred the probate judge in Mobile County from denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples, a realization began to sink in among many that a weeklong judicial row was coming to a close.
“After yesterday’s ruling, it seems inevitable,” said Probate Judge Rocky Ridings of Marion County, in the northwestern part of the state. “There’s no point in making attorneys rich and going on to lose anyway.”
Like many probate judges reached on Friday morning, Judge Ridings said that he was still going to talk with his lawyer about his options but that he would probably begin issuing marriage licenses to all couples, straight and gay, next week.
This week, for him and others, has been confounding. Judge Callie V.S. Granade of Federal District Court ruled in January that the state’s same-sex marriage ban was unconstitutional, and as of Monday, that ruling was to be in effect. But on Sunday night, the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, Roy S. Moore, ordered probate judges not to comply, arguing that the federal ruling did not apply to them because, among other things, probate judges were not defendants in that case.
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Asked if the decisions not to grant a stay to same-sex marriages by the federal appeals court in Atlanta and the United States Supreme Court signaled how they might rule if a case were brought, Mr. Staver said of his clients, “they can’t anticipate what will happen in the future. They need to abide by the law they’re sworn to administer and that is still in effect.”
Lawyers for same-sex couples who have sued for marriage rights said after Thursday’s ruling said they would not hesitate to bring legal action in other counties if probate judges continued to deny licenses to same-sex couples.
“If we have plaintiffs from another county that need redress against their local probate judges we’re happy to help,” said David Kennedy, who represents Cari Searcy and Kimberly McKeand, a lesbian couple who were plaintiffs in the case that brought Judge Granade’s initial ruling.
Jennifer Crossley Howard contributed reporting from Decatur, Ala.
