Judges stays Alabama marriage ruling

UPDATE (9:45 a.m. EST, Jan. 26): The judge who struck down Alabama’s marriage law Friday issued a stay of her decision for two weeks, giving the state time to appeal. The state will ask the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals if it will delay the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples until the Supreme Court rules on the topic this summer. If an appeal is not granted within two weeks, same-sex marriages can begin in Alabama.

OUR EARLIER STORY: A federal judge declared Alabama’s law defining marriage as between one man and one woman unconstitutional today ahead of the Supreme Court’s expected ruling on the issue this summer.

U.S. District Judge Callie V.S. Granade ruled the state must recognize two Mobile women as married after they received a marriage license in California. Both an Alabama statute and the state’s 2006 voter-approved marriage amendment violated the equal-protection clause of the U.S. Constitution, Granade said.

A spokesman for Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange issued a statement expressing disappointment in the decision and saying the state will seek to put it on hold.

“We expect to ask for a stay of the court’s judgment pending the outcome of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling, which will ultimately decide this case,” Mike Lewis said. The Supreme Court announced this month it plans to consider whether the 14th Amendment requires states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples as a matter of equality. Litigation on same-sex marriage is still underway in a handful of states and in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.