Alabama Chief Justice Suspended Over Same-Sex Marriage Order

By Chris Marr, Bloomberg BNA

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore was ordered suspended without pay for the rest of his term for telling state probate judges not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, in defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Moore violated state rules of judicial ethics in issuing an order to state probate judges, according to a Sept. 30 decision from the state’s Court of the Judiciary, which hears complaints of judicial misconduct.

Moore told the judges in a Jan. 6, 2016 administrative order to follow Alabama’s statutes and constitution, which prohibited the state from recognizing same-sex marriages. He made the order despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s ...