Baldwin County Probate Judge Tim Russell said his office was issuing marriage licenses to all applicants, days after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide.
Russell had briefly paused issuing any licenses the previous Friday while he reviewed the court’s decision, saying he wanted to be certain his office was interpreting the ruling correctly before resuming operations the following Monday morning.
“Some people asked why wait until 10 o’clock today, but I felt I owed it to the citizens to read the case and I read it over and over to make sure that we were understanding the case completely,” Russell said. “According to what we interpreted, we have to go ahead and issue them.”
Russell’s decision put him in step with the Supreme Court ruling despite earlier guidance some Alabama probate judges had received from state Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore instructing them not to issue licenses to same-sex couples. That guidance, issued months earlier in February, had created confusion among probate offices statewide.
Russell said he did not believe a separate order Moore issued that Monday applied broadly, saying he understood it to pertain specifically to a case in Elmore County. He said his office received no additional instruction from Moore telling him to withhold licenses following the high court’s ruling.
By midday Monday, Russell’s office reported a normal flow of activity, with 10 to 15 marriage licenses issued — none yet for same-sex couples, though the option was now open to all applicants under the law.
Baldwin County’s response mirrored a broader adjustment taking place in probate offices across Alabama as counties worked through how to implement the ruling amid mixed signals from state officials.
Legal observers said the coming weeks would likely bring more clarity as additional counties across south Alabama settled into compliance with the nationwide ruling.