Lawmakers in Alabama are moving ahead
with impeachment hearings against Governor Robert Bentley after the
Alabama Supreme Court gave the greenlight on Saturday.
At issue is whether Bentley abused his
position to cover up an affair with Rebekah Caldwell Mason, a top
aide.
“I do not plan to resign,” Bentley,
a conservative Republican, said Friday. “I have done nothing
illegal.”
On Wednesday, Bentley offered an
apology of sorts, admitting that he had said inappropriate things to
Mason, but denied any “sexual activity.”
As governor, Bentley strongly defended
the state's ban on same-sex marriage. In a filing to the U.S.
Supreme Court, Bentley's lawyers argued that such unions should be
seen as “social experiments” and that allowing gay couples to
marry destroys the “rights of children to be connected to their
biological parents.”
According to NPR, the House Judiciary
Committee may begin impeachment proceedings as soon as Monday.