OPINION

Supreme Court dodges more nonsense from Alabama

Montgomery Advertiser

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday scuttled more nonsense from Alabama’s high court, reversing a September ruling claiming the state didn’t have to recognize a second-parent adoption awarded to a lesbian couple in Georgia.

The Alabama Supreme Court had mistakenly held Georgia courts had no authority to grant the adoption.

The lesbian couple has now split, with the biological parent seeking sole custody despite the other parent’s strong desire to remain in the child’s life, with custody and visitation rights.

To get some idea of how ridiculous the Alabama court’s stand was, consider that the eight U.S. Supreme Court Justices, conservative and liberal alike, unanimously voided the decision without needing to hear oral arguments.

The case was a house built on straw. The U.S. Constitution full faith and credit clause clearly requires that states respect public acts, records and judicial proceedings from other states.

Without such protections, Alabama wouldn’t have to recognize any marriages or adoptions or what have you that took place legally across state lines, creating chaos for courts, state agencies and families of every stripe.

This is merely another in a long list of wrongheaded, costly court controversies foisted on the taxpayers of Alabama by anti-same-sex marriage extremist Chief Justice Roy Moore and his band of cohorts on the state Supreme Court.

The U.S. high court’s reversal is a victory for children of same-sex parents, who deserve equal treatment under the law – including the care of two legal parents, especially should one partner die.

In another win for same-sex couples, the state Supreme Court on March 5 slinked away like a dog with its tail between its legs, dismissing a spurious lawsuit that sought to ban same-sex marriage in Alabama.

The case was brought by the conservative Alabama Policy Institute and Alabama Citizens Action Program, who claimed the state’s 1998 law and 2006 constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage still remained in effect despite the U.S. high court’s June overruling of such bans.

The intent was to block probate judges around the state from issuing same-sex marriage licenses, a pet cause for Moore, who has crossed the line of judicial ethics too many times by making public statements about cases.

The court’s abdication on the suit shows they know they’re licked and that federal court actions allowing same-sex unions take precedence over Yellowhammer state shenanigans.

Moore wasn’t about to let it be all over without the shouting. He issued a rambling, 94-page concurring opinion with the dismissal of the case, noting his angry defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court’s legalization of same-sex marriage. It’s mostly a campaign stunt to woo anti-gay rights voters as he considers running for governor in 2018.

What voters should actually be mulling is why the state keeps paying this public servant a high salary to pursue personal, bigoted ideological crusades rather than dutifully champion equality and justice for all.