State Supreme Court Justice Warns He May Abolish Marriage Entirely If Same-Sex Weddings Are Allowed

[William769]

An obscure, two-page opinion by an Alabama Supreme Court justice contains an ominous warning. If marriage equality remains the law in Alabama, Justice Glenn Murdock may vote to abolish marriage in his state altogether.

Justice Murdock’s opinion is attached to a brief order from the state supreme court as a whole declining to offer further guidance to Alabama probate judges regarding whether they must comply with a federal court order holding that same-sex couples are entitled to the same marriage rights as straight couples. In a brief opinion concurring in that order, Murdock hints that, if this federal court order is permitted to stand, then his own court should strike down all marriages within the state of Alabama.

Murdock suggests that, had the state legislature known that its decision to exclude gay couples from the right to marry was unconstitutional, it might have preferred not to permit anyone to be married in the state of Alabama. This potential preference for no marriages over equality matters, according to Justice Murdock, because of a prior state supreme court decision holding that, when part of a state law is struck down, the law may be declared “wholly void” if “the invalid portion is so important to the general plan and operation of the law in its entirety as reasonably to lead to the conclusion that it would not have been adopted if the legislature had perceived the invalidity of the part so held to be unconstitutional.”

Thus, according to Murdock, if gay couples and straight couples must enjoy the exact same marriage rights under the Constitution, the proper remedy might be to deny those rights to everyone, rather than extending them to same-sex and opposite-sex couples alike.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2015/02/18/3623884/state-supreme-court-justice-warns-may-abolish-marriage-entirely-sex-weddings-allowed/

[cyberswede]

1. What a baby. nt

[William769]

6. And definitely not the New Year's type.

[MohRokTah]

2. What an ignorant bigotted pig. eom

[geomon666]

3. Can we abolish him entirely

from the judicial system?

[LonePirate]

4. This sounds a lot like legislating from the bench which I thought right wingers hated.

[Fred Sanders]

5. This is what you get when judges only need an Alabama high school diploma to be a judge.

And the other higher learning is all from the pulpit.

[guillaumeb]

33. I have a GED

and I do not believe in science. Can I be a judge too?

[Fred Sanders]

37. In Alabama, step right up sir. Who needs law school to be a lawyer, or judge , anyway?

[guillaumeb]

41. and I believe that the President

is a radical Christian, Muuslim born in Hawaii, or Kenya, or one of those foreign places anyway.

Can I be a Supreme Court Judge?

[onenote]

42. as a pure matter of law, what he actually said isn't all that surprising

If you read his statement, he notes that implicit in the request for guidance from the probate judges as to their obligations under the state statutes governing the licenasing and recognition of marriage is the issue of whether, if a portion of the statute is struck down, the rest of the statute survives. This actually is a pretty standard issue in constitutional jurisprudence. Murdock goes on to say its a substantial question but that it isn't a question that has been properly put before the court.

I wouldn't be surprised that, if it came down to it, Murdock would make what I think is the wrong decision and hold that the entire marriage statute fails if the same sex prohibition fails. But the guy went to a pretty decent law school (University of Virginia) and from an abstract point of view, he is correct that it is an issue that, if and when properly put before the court, would have to be addressed.

[Fred Sanders]

43. His means to the end goes directly through the Bible.

[pipi_k]

7. Oh goody!

Then people can live in sin the way god meant them to!


Family values...

[Manifestor_of_Light]

8. What an idiot.

So they'd abolish a whole section in the Family Code? Good luck with abolishing a civil contract. Not to mention ex post facto laws. Does that mean that your straight marriage is now invalid???

[tammywammy]

16. Bigots don't think further than the end of their nose.

Realizing the ramifications of abolishing marriage entirely doesn't apply bc you know gays.

Even probate and estate planning would be effected. Moron

[onehandle]

9. The baby Jesus cries when the Gubberment forces people to live in sin. nt

[patricia92243]

10. It always frightens me that we have such raving lunatics in positions of power. n/t

[cyberswede]

12. +1

Amazing.

[TlalocW]

11. And damn it, if we're going to allow Negroes to sit wherever they want in a theater

Instead of their own special section, let's get rid of all movie houses! Now, about those drinking fountains and restrooms that let anyone white or colored use them...

TlalocW

[Iggo]

23. They actually did this with public swimming pools.

Same motherfuckers.

[aikoaiko]

13. Haters would be funny, if the consequences were so tragic.

[lame54]

14. Their new state slogan...

Alabama: The Shack-Up State

[tammywammy]

17. All those holier than thou will be living in sin!

lol

[KamaAina]

29. Or better still, "Alabama Is For Lovers"

[Daemonaquila]

15. Go for it.

It won't last, but it sure will make monkeys out of all these rabid homophobes. It'll cause all sorts of chaos for a short time, until the first case challenging it (whether related to divorce, probate, or what have you) winds up in a federal court that will slap a restraining order on that crap in a heartbeat.

[Kurska]

18. Remember when Alabama tried to abolish public schools to avoid desegregating?

History has a funny way of repeating itself.

[KamaAina]

30. Mississippi basically did just that.

Nearly all white kids in Mississippi attend private "segregation academies", while the public schools are pretty much left to those kids , and (surprise!) are woefully underfunded.

Ironically, at least one segregation academy has accepted a black student -- because they wanted him on the football team!

[LuvNewcastle]

38. That's true in a lot of places in north Miss.,

but not in south Miss. Most of the private schools in south Miss. are parochial schools. I graduated from a public school that was about 90% white.

People in the southern part of the state are always trying to get more funding for the public schools, but the funding often gets blocked by upstate legislators. Since their kids and grandkids are in private academies, they see public school funding as just another giveaway to the blacks. I wish south Miss. could secede from the rest of Miss., and I'm not alone.

[KamaAina]

40. And you guys have almost all the casino money

Better still, take NOLA and environs with y'all!

[Aristus]

19. Yeah, good luck with that, Bumpkin.

[NYC Liberal]

20. "No state shall pass any Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts"

US Constitution. Article I, Section 10.

A marriage is a contract. They cannot invalidate existing marriages.

Where do they find these idiots?

[guillaumeb]

35. Hate when you liberals always try

to stop us god-fearing, America loving patriots from doing what we want to do. And do not go quoting any Constitution to us. We are still fighting the Civil War.

If stupidity was a weapon these people would be unstoppable.

[Initech]

21. Try it, I dare you.

[Iggo]

22. Hoo-ray, Alabama!!!

Jezuss fucking kryste.

[Runningdawg]

24. The people in OK

tried this, but they didn't get far. This won't either.

[Elwood P Dowd]

25. KKKarl Rove and his band of crooks got many of these neanderthals their jobs years ago.

Alabama was one of the states where his crew spent tons of time rigging judicial elections.

[JoePhilly]

26. He's going to take his ball and go home!

[guillaumeb]

27. why exactly did Lincoln want to keep

the Southern states in the Union? Comic relief?

Maybe the South should be allowed, or forced to form their own country. My suggestion for the name for the country would be
Freelodia
Combines the freedom to be an idiot with the concept of freeloading off the Federal Government. Given that the Southern States all get more back in tax dollars than they contribute I think the concept is not economically viable but give it a try.

[chillfactor]

28. what a nutcase!

How how does this bigot think he can get away with such an edict?

[mythology]

31. Finally after all these years I understand

How same sex marriage is going to harm heterosexual marriage. It's going to make some brainless putz ban marriage all together. How crafty of the super secret gay agenda to manipulate this man into cutting off his own nose (and ears and tongue and eyes) and ban marriage altogether. I bow to the superior wiles of the gays in this brilliant tactical maneuver.



Or maybe this hate-filled idiot is just full of shit.

[louis-t]

32. I know, why not take that a bit further.

If abortion remains the law, he can abolish pregnancy!
If immigration is allowed, he can abolish citizenship!
If equal pay is allowed, he can abolish wages!

What a fucking idiot.

[TheKentuckian]

34. Go for it and see how that works out for ya.

[spanone]

36. america has some big-ass problems...this asshole is one of them

[bullwinkle428]

39. The dying gasps of bigots.