LIBERTY COUNSEL: News media missed Alabama's Supreme Court historic action on same-sex marriage
ORLANDO (Christian Examiner) — Friday's Alabama Supreme Court's apparent rejection of the U.S. Supreme Court's 5-4 marriage opinion — one that leaves in place a Judgment affirming Alabama marriage laws – is a "clear victory" according to Liberty Counsel's Mat Staver.
Staver refutes what he says is the media's misrepresentation of the court's action in what he says is an historic 135-page order in favor or Liberty Counsel's emergency petition which orders some judges to cease issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
"Some media reported the opposite of what the Alabama Supreme Court did," Staver said. "When the Alabama Supreme Court entered the Judgment on its March 2015 order and dismissed the ACLU's motion to reverse that order, the result was a clear victory for our case."
Headlines regarding the issue include: "Alabama Supreme Court Refuses Challenge to Gay Marriage" (NBCNews.com); "Alabama Supreme Court quashes conservative revolt against gay marriage" (Los Angeles Times); and "Alabama high court tosses petitions challenging gay marriage" (Reuters).
Despite news that reported the opposite, Staver said Alabama's Chief Justice Roy Moore's 105-page opinion concurred with the order that all pending motions and petitions be dismissed.
Moore noted in a statement, "[T]he Court did not disturb the existing orders in this case or the holding in API that Alabama's Sanctity of Marriage Amendment and the Alabama Marriage Protection Act were constitutional."
The American Civil Liberties Union executive director, Susan Watson, told the Washington Post she believed the justices had ruled in favor of the U.S. Supreme Court on the legalization of gay marriage, and were applying the rule of law in Alabama.
Not so, Staver said in a Liberty Counsel news release.
"The Alabama Supreme Court order upholding the marriage laws and ordering the probate judges to comply with those laws still remains in effect," Staver said. "The ACLU's request to reverse that order was dismissed."