Court Drops Weddings - Gay and Straight - In Budget Move

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A Michigan court judge says there’s nothing in the state law that requires him to officiate at weddings, so he’s suspending all marriage ceremonies – gay and straight – despite last week’s landmark U.S. Supreme Court 5-4 ruling holding that same-sex marriage bans in Michigan and a dozen other states are unconstitutional.

Midland County District Court Judge Michael D. Carpenter said same-sex marriage equality “is an issue that’s near and dear to both sides’ hearts,” but his decision to step out of the fray is a matter of efficiency rather than defiance, the Midland Daily News reports.

Carpenter says the statute reads that judges “may” perform marriage ceremonies, but doesn’t require that they “shall” offer the service.

Midland County court services are down to one district court judge and a magistrate. “We just don’t have the staffing and the time,” Carpenter told the newspaper.

“I’m looking for everything we don’t have to do,” he said. “Anything we don’t have to do, we’re not going to do.

Related:

• Supreme Court Rules Same-Sex Marriage A Right

Carpenter says his decision “doesn’t mean you can’t be married in the courthouse.” Couples can still get married at the Midland County Clerk’s Office, where marriage licenses are issued, he said.

Statute Clear: Judge in the Clear

John Nevin, a spokesman for the Michigan Supreme Court told MLive.com the judge isn’t breaking the law by moving wedding ceremonies out of his courtroom and to the office of the county clerk.

”The statute is pretty clear,” Nevin said. “It’s a ‘may.’ “

He said the state Supreme Court is taking steps to ensure the U.S. Supreme Court decision, now “the law of the land,” is fully implemented.

Michigan’s 2004 voter-backed ban was among those struck down as unconstitutional in the historic ruling. Gov. Rick Snyder said in a statement the matter of same-sex marriage has been settled, and Michigan “will follow the law and our state agencies will make the necessary changes to ensure that we will fully comply.”

“Let’s also recognize while this issue has stirred passionate debate, we now should focus on the values we share,” Snyder said.

Most of the other states like Michigan, where same-sex marriage was illegal until the Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges, have taken a similar posture. Many condemned the ruling as judicial overreach, but said their states wouldn’t stand in the way of its implementation.

South Softentening

However, there were ardent holdouts in areas where same-sex marriage was bitterly fought and there, especially in the South, the watershed ruling is seen by its harshest critics as revisionist at best and illegal at worst, CNN reports.

But they are softening.

The New York Times reports that in Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal continued to condemn the decision that legalized same-sex marriage, but said he would abide by it.

The head-butting became so contentious in Mississippi that Attorney General Jim Hood, a Democrat, had to ask a federal appeals court to allow his office to withdraw as counsel to Republican Gov. Phil Bryant before Bryant finally relented. On Wednesday, Bryant agreed to ask the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal to lift the stay on its ruling striking down Mississippi’s gay marriage ban, Buzzfeed News reports.

In Alabama, marriage licenses are being issued in most major population centers, despite an Alabama Supreme Court writ of mandamus that suspends same-sex marriages for 25 days pending what appears to be a legal challenge of the ruling. A few county probate judges cited religious objections and refused to issue any kind of marriage licenses.

In Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton wrote a defiant opinion that said officials could cite religious objections and refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples or decline to perform their wedding ceremonies.

“Texas must speak with one voice against this lawlessness, and act on multiple levels to further protect religious liberties for all Texans, but most immediately do anything we can to help our county clerks and public officials who now are forced with defending their religious beliefs against the Court’s ruling,” he wrote in a news release announcing the opinion.

Despite his strong stand, county clerks in San Antonio, Dallas and Houston were issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, The New York Times said.

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