The Supreme Court on Monday refused to block gay marriages from beginning in Alabama, turning down by a 7-2 vote the state's request for a stay of a lower-court decision.
The justices are scheduled to decide by June whether same-sex couples have a right to marriage nationwide.
In the capital of Montgomery and in Birmingham, probate judges began to issue same-sex marriage licenses Monday morning. Officials from both cities did not provide estimates for how many marriage licenses they expected to hand out during the day.
A U.S. District Court ruling last month invalidated Alabama's ban on same-sex marriages. With the high court's ruling Monday, state officials had clearance to begin issuing same-sex marriage licenses, making Alabama the first Deep South state to do so.
But complicating the situation was letter issued Sunday night by Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who warned probate judges against issuing same-sex marriage licenses. In the letter, Moore wrote, "Effective immediately, no Probate Judge of the State of Alabama nor any agent or employee of any Alabama Probate Judge shall issue or recognize a marriage license that is inconsistent with Article 1, Section 36.03, of the Alabama Constitution or § 30-1-19, Ala. Code 1975," the state laws banning same-sex marriage.
Bibb County, which is about 50 miles south of Birmingham, was not issuing same-sex marriage licenses Monday morning.
"Right now we're not going to do it," said Probate Judge Jerry Powell. "We have direct orders from the state Supreme Court here in Alabama, and I'm going to adhere to it."
Moore had earlier told the judges that they did not have to issue marriage licenses, and that issuing licenses to same-sex couples would be in "defiance of the laws and Constitution in Alabama."
The state probate judges association has urged officials to follow the federal court order, and it was unclear what effect Moore's order would have.
Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented from Monday's high-court decision, with Thomas writing an angry dissent.
"Today's decision represents yet another example of this Court's increasingly cavalier attitude toward the States," he wrote.
"This acquiescence may well be seen as a signal of the Court's intended resolution of [the gay-marriage] question. This is not the proper way to discharge our [constitutional] responsibilities. And, it is indecorous for this Court to pretend that it is."
The action by the justices is in line with what they have done in similar cases from other states, and legal experts did not read too much into it.
"In one sense, that's business as usual for them," said James Esseks of the American Civil Liberties Union. "The court doesn't think that allowing more people to get married is a harm that has to be stopped."
Twitter: @timphelpsLAT
Staff writer Kurtis Lee contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2015, Los Angeles Times7:10 a.m. This article has been updated with information on same-sex marriage liceneses being issued in Alabama.
This article was originally published at 6:10 a.m.
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