MONTGOMERY, AL (July 28, 2015) – Sanctity of Marriage Alabama, a grassroots organization based in Montgomery urged the Alabama Supreme Court Tuesday to uphold their order from 3 March 2015 that halted same-sex marriage in Alabama.
On 6 July 2015, Liberty Counsel, Alabama Policy Institute, and Alabama Citizens Action Program submitted a brief to the Supreme Court of Alabama explaining how Obergefell assaults the rule of law, democracy, and natural law. They asked the Court to comment on how Obergefell will affect Alabama law – considering the Supreme Court of Alabama’s writ of mandamus order from March 3rd that soundly defended marriage between one man and one woman.
Tom Ford, a spokesperson for Sanctity of Marriage Alabama said, “We expect that the Supreme Court of Alabama will uphold their previous order – once again championing marriage and the rule of law in Alabama.”
Eunie Smith, President of Eagle Forum of Alabama said, “There is existing precedent for a state’s highest court to reject an unlawful mandate from the U.S. Supreme Court – especially one that defies ‘the laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.’”
“The preservation of our constitutional Republic,” Smith continued, “rests upon state officials who will refuse to allow five lawyers (two of whom should have recused themselves due to prejudicial behavior) to rob us of our free, representative form of government. The ripple effects of this ruling will be devastating. It should not stand unchallenged. We are hopeful that the Alabama Supreme Court will act advisedly from a legal perspective and boldly in support of natural marriage for the good of children and of all Americans.”
Dr. John Eastman, Henry Salvatori Professor of Law at Dale E. Fowler School of Law stated Tuesday in reference to the brief before the Supreme Court of Alabama, that, “The Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell mandating same-sex marriage throughout the nation is not only wrong, but illegitimate.”
Eastman said that President Abraham Lincoln, when confronted with “the similarly illegitimate decision by the Supreme Court in Dred Scott,” responded that the decision was binding on the parties to the case but, then “proceeded to do all within his power to minimize the illegitimate decision, including directing executive officials under his authority not to extend it to additional parties.” Eastman said that this “kind of response to judicial usurpation is required, if we are to continue to be a self-governing people.”
“The oaths that elected officials take is to ‘the Constitution,’ not to ‘the Supreme Court,’” Eastman said, “and it is high time that ‘that eminent tribunal’ be reminded that the very essence of its authority comes from the Constitution. As John Marshall stated in the famous decision of Marbury v. Madison, the power of judicial review does not imply a superiority of the courts to the elected branches of government, but a superiority of the Constitution to both.”
Former president of the Alabama Baptist State Convention, Dr. John Killian said that great social upheaval will result if Obergefell goes unchallenged and urged the Supreme Court of Alabama to “stand with the four dissenters on the United States Supreme Court.”
Alabama citizens spoke on this issue in 2006 when 81% of voters approved the Sanctity of Marriage Amendment. “The majority of Alabamians are rightly appalled by this new definition of marriage and the audacity of the Supreme Court of the United States,” Tom Ford said. “The Court should not by inaction or compliance assert the legitimacy of Obergefell. Instead, they should stand with God, the Constitution of the United States, the rule of law, and the democratic voice of Alabama citizens.”
Sanctity of Marriage Alabama says that Alabamians expect their elected officials – Governor Bentley, Attorney General Strange, members of the legislature, probate judges, and the Supreme Court of Alabama – to defend the Constitution of the United States and preserve marriage between one man and one woman, thus ignoring the unlawful opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States in Obergefell.
Reprinted with permission from Sanctity of Marriage Alabama.
