A federal judge on Monday ruled that clerks in Mississippi may not recuse themselves from issuing marriage licenses to gay couples based on religious beliefs, despite a bill passed by the state legislature intended to carve out that exception for them.
U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves said that the recusals on religious grounds granted by the state’s so-called “Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act”, or House Bill 1523, violated the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 2015 ruling legalizing gay marriage.
The Supreme Court’s decision is commonly referred to as the “Obergefell” case after lead plaintiff James Obergefell.
“Mississippi’s elected officials may disagree with Obergefell, of course, and may express that disagreement as they see fit – by advocating for a constitutional amendment to overturn the decision, for example,” Reeves wrote in his 16-page ruling, which came in response to a lawsuit filed by the Campaign for Southern Equality.
“But the marriage license issue will not be adjudicated anew after each legislative session,” Reeves wrote. Mississippi is among a handful of Southern U.S. states on the front lines of legal battles over equality, privacy and religious freedom.
Reeves has not yet ruled on other provisions of the state legislation, which is expected to become law on Friday and also contains a set of religious objections provisions that have been challenged in four separate lawsuits.
But Mississippi’s lieutenant governor, Tate Reeves (Not Related To Judge), quickly slammed the ruling in a written statement.
“If this opinion by the federal court denies even one Mississippian of their fundamental right to practice their religion, then all Mississippians are denied their 1st Amendment rights,” Reeves said. “I hope the state’s attorneys will quickly appeal this decision to the 5th Circuit to protect the deeply held religious beliefs of all Mississippians.”
A spokesman for the Campaign for Southern Equality, meanwhile, said the group was “delighted” with the decision and expected the judge to rule in their favor on its challenges to the entirety of the HB 1523.
Secession.
Well then there’s no way to refuse a marriage license to a 45 year old man who wants to make a 6 year old wife as Muhammad did or to deny licenses for multiple wives.
I wish someone would sue to make a prominent Democrat’s pre-pubescent child one of their multiple wives just to see how the left reacts.
“… the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 2015 ruling legalizing gay marriage …”
How can a SCROTUS decision “legalize” anything? Am I the only one who takes umbrage at this statement? There is NO mention of “marriage” by perverts, or otherwise, anywhere in the Constitution or the accompanying Bill of Rights.
PERIOD.
The SCROTUS pulled pervert “marriage” out of their collective asses.
There simply is no “right” to marry.
izlamo delenda est …
Ohhhh. . . my aching head.
First, what is a FedGov jurisdiction doing interfering in state’s affairs? Whose GENUINE Civil Rights is this infringing?
Second, “violated the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 2015 ruling legalizing gay marriage.” There is SO much wrong in that short sentence.
Where in the name of the Holy Constitution does it give the FedGov a say-so, ANY say-so, over marriage?
Then, the SCrOTUS doesn’t pass laws or make legislation, it’s only supposed to rule on the legality or Constitutionality of laws ALREADY PASSED by The FedGov Klown Krews in Kongress.
Even if the FedGov Klown Krews in Kongress pass a law legalizing any form of marriage (hetero, homo, chain, polyandry, polygamy, etc), I refer you back to the previous sentence.
As I said, oohhhhh. . .. my ACHING head.
No wonder there is such disrespect for the Rule of Law and the Judicial System. When the people at the very top don’t enforce/obey/respect the RoL, how can the peopns be expected to do likewise? Monkey see, monkey do.
Who says Muslims will get a marriage license to wed and bed their latter-day Aisha, hmm?
The states need not secede from the other states….they need to secede from Washington DC instead.
All of them.
I would be happy to help sponsor a gay couple who would like to pick a mosque to get married in. We really need to start shoveling this shit back onto their shoes.