Alabama County Stops Issuing Marriage Licenses Over Same-Sex Ruling

The Probate Court of Mobile County in the US state of Alabama stopped issuing marriage licenses Wednesday, protesting an order to follow a state ban on same-sex marriages that was earlier found unconstitutional by a federal judge.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Tuesday, the Alabama Supreme Court ordered probate judges to stop issuing same-sex marriage licenses. The probate courts were given five days to show cause why they should continue marrying people of same gender.

"The Court and its legal counsel are currently evaluating this opinion and its effect on the Mobile County Probate Court… Until said analysis is completed, the Court will not issue any marriage license to any applicants," the statement published on the Court's official website said.

Same-sex marriages have been legally recognized in Alabama since federal court orders in the cases of two homosexual couples took effect on February 9, 2015. In both cases the US District Court found Alabama's ban on same sex marriages unconstitutional.

Since then, 47 of the state's 67 counties started issuing licenses to same-sex couples.

Alabama Supreme Court Chief Judge Roy Moore, however, stated that state probate judges were not bound by the US District Court's rulings and ordered them to halt same-sex marriages.

With a population of over 400,000, Mobile county is the second most-populous county in Alabama.