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 Justice Roy Moore, in a letter addressed to Alabama Governor
Robert Bentley, said Friday's federal ruling, which was put on hold
for two weeks and could be superseded by a U.S. Supreme Court
decision on gay marriage due by the end of June, violates the state
constitution.
"I am dismayed by those judges in our state who have stated they
will recognize and unilaterally enforce a federal court decision
which does not bind them," Moore wrote. "I would advise them that
the issuance of such licenses would be in defiance of the laws and
constitution of Alabama."
Ronald Krotoszynski, a constitutional law expert at the University
of Alabama School of Law, said Moore's words carry little legal
weight, as federal constitutional law trumps that of states.
"There is no credible legal argument that an order from a federal
judge with jurisdiction over a matter isn't binding on a state
government," he said.
 Moore has long been a lightning rod. In 2000, he gained national
attention for installing a Ten Commandments monument in the state's
judicial building. He was removed from office three years later
after defying a federal order to take it down and was returned to
his post by voters in 2012.
U.S. District Court Judge Callie Granade, an appointee of President
George W. Bush, whose ruling struck down the state's gay marriage
ban as unconstitutional, issued a second ruling on Tuesday awarding
a separate Alabama same-sex couple the right to marry.
Her initial ruling triggered impassioned reactions around Alabama,
which overwhelmingly passed a gay marriage ban in 2006.
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State Representative Patricia Todd, a Democrat who is the state's
sole gay lawmaker, threatened over the weekend to expose her
colleagues' extramarital affairs if they continue to cite "family
values" while speaking against the ruling.
Bentley, a Republican, said in a statement put out after Moore's
letter that he supports Alabama's gay marriage ban and will work to
uphold it.
Gay rights activists were critical of Moore's letter.
"There's something deeply ironic about a judge seeking the right to
ignore another judge's ruling while crying 'judicial activism,'" the
Human Rights Campaign's Alabama director, Ashley Jackson, said in a
statement.
(Reporting by Jonathan Kaminsky in New Orleans; Editing by Eric
Beech)
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