Federal judge orders Alabama county to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples

MOBILE, Ala., Feb. 12 (UPI) -- A federal judge ordered a Mobile County, Ala., judge to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples Thursday.

U.S. District Court Judge Callie V.S. "Ginny" Granade said Mobile County Probate Judge Don Davis must issue the licenses after he shuttered the county's marriage license office this week.

On Monday, the state started handing out marriage licenses to same-sex couples for the first time Monday after Granade struck down Alabama's ban as unconstitutional. She said the Alabama Marriage Protection Act was unconstitutional because it violated the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the 14th Amendment.

Roy Moore, the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, told probate judges not to issue the licenses and some, like Davis, followed Moore's order.

"If Plaintiffs take all steps that are required in the normal course of business as a prerequisite to issuing a marriage license to opposite-sex couples, Judge Davis may not deny them a license on the ground that Plaintiffs constitute same-sex couples or because it is prohibited by the Sanctity of Marriage Amendment and the Alabama Marriage Protection Act or by any other Alabama law or Order pertaining to same-sex marriage," Granade ruled Thursday.