It’s only been a few days since Alabama became the 38th state in our nation to legalize same-sex marriage. And while some Alabama judges spoke out against the U.S. Supreme Court for refusing to ban same-sex marriages while they appealed the federal court ruling to legalize it, President Obama recently spoke out about the issue and predicted a powerful shift in the future from the Supreme Court on same-sex marriage.
President Obama spoke about the matter in an interview with Buzzfeed News and claimed that, with so many states having already legalized same-sex marriage, it’s likely the U.S. Supreme Court will eventually make same-sex marriage legal on a federal level.
“My sense is that the Supreme Court is about to make a shift, one that I welcome, which is to recognize that — having hit a critical mass of states that have recognized same-sex marriage — it doesn’t make sense for us to now have this patchwork system,” Obama said. “It’s time to recognize that under the equal protection clause of the United States [Constitution], same-sex couples should have the same rights as anybody else.”
Prior to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore ordered probate judges on Feb. 8 not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. However, several judges across the state ignored his orders and began issuing marriage licenses anyway.
In his interview, Obama compared the situation to that of former Alabama Gov. George Wallace, who infamously tried to keep schools from desegregating in the 1960s.
“I won’t say it’s a perfect analogy, but there’s a core principle here that’s at stake, which is we have a supremacy clause in our Constitution,” Obama said in response to a question about Wallace. “When federal law is in conflict with state law, federal law wins out.”
Obama then criticized Moore and his previous attempts to oppose the federal court, including a move to try to place a religious monument in the state Supreme Court building. A move which ended up with him being removed from the bench.
“My recollection is that Judge Moore had a similar problem with a federal court ruling that you couldn’t put a huge Ten Commandments statue in the middle of your courthouse and, ultimately, federal law was obeyed, and I think that the same thing will end up happening here,” Obama said. “I think that the courts at the federal level will have something to say to him.”
Considering how fast marriage equality has spread across the nation over the past two years, we’re inclined to say that President Obama is likely right, even though it might not happen as fast as he’d like.
