Alabama Chief Justice To Face Trial For Barring Same-Sex Marriage

A court has decided that Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore will face trial in September for violating judicial ethics after he ordered state judges not to issue same-sex marriage licenses early this year.

The Alabama Court of the Judiciary, which has the final say on complaints against state judges, rejected Moore’s motion to dismiss the charges on Monday, paving the way for a trial, AL.com reported.

Moore is widely expected to be found guilty and removed from the Alabama Supreme Court as a result. The Court of the Judiciary did, however, reject a motion by the state’s Judicial Inquiry Commission to remove him from the bench right away.

The controversial justice sparked a firestorm in January when he issued an administrative ruling prohibiting Alabama probate judges from issuing same-sex marriage licenses. The order contravened the consensus interpretation of Obergefell v. Hodges, a June 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide.

Moore argued that the seminal ruling only struck down the same-sex marriage bans in Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee, since they were explicitly addressed in the decision. Federal courts have interpreted the Supreme Court decision as applying to other states as well.

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