|
 Gay marriage activists and legal experts assailed the order,
arguing last June's landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision afforded
same-sex couples the right to marry in all 50 states.
In a phone interview Chief Justice Roy Moore, who issued the order,
said judges were bound by the state Supreme Court's decision last
March halting same-sex marriage until that court determines the
effect on the state of the national ruling.
A federal judge in Alabama overturned the state's ban on same-sex
marriage last January.
"There is a great confusion out there as to what orders to obey,"
Moore said. "I’m not causing the confusion, I’m trying to clarify
it."
Many probate judges were issuing marriage licenses to gay and
lesbian couples while others refused to do so, he said.
 One probate judge, Steven Reed in Montgomery, Alabama, said his
office would not heed the administrative order. "Judge Moore's
latest charade is just sad & pathetic," Reed posted on Twitter.
But the Mobile County probate court said on its website that it
would stop issuing marriage licenses to any applicants gay or
straight until further notice "to ensure full compliance with all
court rulings."
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which has an ongoing ethics
complaint against Moore, said he should be removed from the bench
for telling the state's judges to enforce Alabama's ban on same-sex
marriage.
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"It’s a disgrace to his office that he occupies it," said Richard
Cohen, president of the Alabama-based law center. Cohen said judges
who follow Moore's order risked being held in contempt of court for
violating the federal judge's ruling.
In Kentucky last year, County Clerk Kim Davis was jailed for five
days after refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples
despite the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, making her a focal point in
the U.S. gay marriage debate.
Moore, a Republican, has been a hero of conservative causes before.
In 2003, he was removed from office after a federal judge ruled he
was placing himself above the law by refusing to take down a Ten
Commandments monument.
He won the chief justice job back in a 2012 election, vowing not to
do anything to create further friction with the federal courts.
(Reporting by Colleen Jenkins in Winston-Salem, N.C.; Additional
reporting by Steve Bittenbender in Louisville, Kentucky; Editing by
Tom Brown and Sandra Maler)
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