Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange
told a crowd Saturday that voters, not the Supreme Court, should
decide whether gay and lesbian couples can marry.
“Who's going to make the decisions
for the citizens of this country? Is it going to be the citizens or
nine people?” he
rhetorically asked a Madison County Republican Men's Club
audience during its monthly breakfast in Huntsville.
He added that the issue should be left
up to the states, not the federal government.
Strange has resisted two federal court
rulings striking down Alabama's ban on gay marriage. Instead of
advising probate judges – who issue marriage licenses – to follow
the decisions, Strange stated that probate judges do not report to
him – the only named defendant in the cases – but to Alabama
Chief Justice Roy Moore, who was advising judges to ignore the
court's rulings.
An Alabama Supreme Court ruling
ordering probate judges not to issue issue marriage licenses to gay
couples has led to a standoff in the state.
Strange filed a brief with the Supreme
Court urging the justices to uphold similar bans in Kentucky,
Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. A decision is expected next month.