Faced with the prospect of an unfavorable SCOTUS ruling this month, the Alabama legislature thinks it has found the perfect tricksy way of foiling those dastardly justices.
They're getting rid of marriage licenses.
Instead, couples (and an officiant) would sign a contract and file it with the state. One of the clauses would be that the couple is "legally authorized to be married" in the fair state of Alabama. "Aha! We're not discriminating in marriage licenses, so the Supreme Court ruling won't affect us!"
How goofy is this? Let me count the ways …
First off, though the law indicates the minimum form of the contract, it by no means limits that content. I foresee all sorts of interesting pre-nup stuff coming into play.
Second, for being so concerned over the "sanctity" of matrimony (not to mention "tradition"), reducing it to a contract seems … not very sanctified (or, rather, seems to be an oddly progressive way of looking at marriage).
But most importantly, it's not going to work. The Supreme Court isn't going to rule "Thou shallt issue marriage license to gay couples." They're going to say that blocking marriage on the basis of sexual orientation violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. This maneuver still does just that, and any federal judge who glances at it will make that crystal clear. And SCOTUS, if further petitioned, is not going to look favorably on such a dodge.
(This is also why arguments that the Constitution doesn't give the federal government the right to dictate marriage law miss the point: the cases before SCOTUS are not about what the Constitution says about marriage, but what it says about equal protection of the law.)
Are the politicians in Alabama really this dim? Or driven to do anything they can to Stop The Evil Gays? Or is it simply a way of making political points with their base?
Hopefully we'll get to see.
Bill scrapping marriage licenses hits Alabama House after passing Senate
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) – This month, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on the issue of same-sex marriage. It should settle a lot of questions once and for all. At least, that’s the idea. …
Copy cats. Oklahoma has already enacted this.
Political points. They're fighting a losing battle, they know it, so they're trying to get as many votes as they can before the dust of history settles on them.