ALABAMA CHIEF JUSTICE BANS SAME SEX MARRIED IN HIS STATE

On Wednesday, law-disdaining Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore ordered probate judges throughout the state to stop granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples—in effect, outlawing marriage equality in the state. Moore, who has called homosexuality an “inherent evil” and a “crime against nature,” insisted that the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which found that same-sex marriage bans violate the federal Constitution, was not binding in Alabama because the state was not a party to that specific litigation. Because Orbergefell did not “directly invalidate” Alabama’s same-sex marriage ban, Moore wrote, the law remains in force until the Alabama supreme court strikes it down. Since the Alabama supreme court recently declared that it held the power to ignore the U.S. Supreme Court when its rulings contravene “ideas of marriage indisputably ... shaped by the Jewish and Christian religions,” Moore has essentially announced that same-sex marriage will remain permanently banned in his state.

We should treat Moore’s order with the same respect and reverence that Moore has shown for his office—which is to say, absolutely none at all. At best, Moore’s order reads like a senior prank by an underachieving high school student. To review: Yes, Obergefell directly applied only to Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee. The Supreme Court’s ruling, however, was not so limited: “The Fourteenth Amendment,” the majority held, “requires a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex.” Not those four states, but every state. And that ruling supersedes any state laws or court decisions to the contrary, thanks to the Supremacy Clause. Put differently, Moore and his colleagues can throw as many temper tantrums as they want—but they can’t override the United States Supreme Court.