Texas attorney general says county clerks can refuse gay couples

[Little Tich]

Source: Yahoo! News / Reuters

(Reuters) - County clerks in Texas who object to gay marriage can refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples despite last week's landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling requiring states to allow same-sex marriage, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said on Sunday.

The nation's top court said on Friday that the U.S. Constitution provides same-sex couples the right to wed, handing a victory to the American gay rights movement.

Paxton said in a statement that hundreds of public officials in Texas were seeking guidance on how to implement what he called a lawless and flawed decision by an "activist" court.

The state's attorney general said that while the Supreme Court justices had "fabricated" a new constitutional right, they did not diminish, overrule, or call into question the First Amendment rights to free exercise of religion.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-attorney-general-says-county-clerks-refuse-gay-002153734.html

[TlalocW]

1. I hope there's wise-ass clerk, brave enough

To refuse to issue marriage licenses to straight couples.

TlalocW

[rurallib]

2. When you get a job where religious tests should not be allowed

you do what the law tells you to do.
Please sue folks. I would think this would be a total no-brainer for any court.
SCOTUS 6-3 with Thomas, Alito and Scalia voting "I am too stupid to be here."

[MiniMe]

3. This is reminding me of pharmacists refusing to fill a prescription for the morning after pill

And I think you don't even need a prescription for it, but pharmacists are refusing to fill the order.

[Gloria]

13. Yup, that was one of my first thoughts

yesterday, along with knowing before some antis even mentioned it, that they would do the same thing that they've done with ROE..

ENDLESS SHIT!!

[AuntPatsy]

4. I object to paying taxes so I should be able to have the same leeway

[restorefreedom]

21. damn straight! (no pun promise)

we had to pay for darth cheney's war.....if they can't perform their job they need to go. lots of people looking for work.

[AuntPatsy]

23. especially in Texas

[restorefreedom]

25. really. i thought gov

"what was the third thing?" perry would want bragging rights to lots of jobs as in "when i left unemployment was down," etc....

i truly did not know texas was in a bad job way

even more reason to dump workers who refuse to do their job.

[AuntPatsy]

26. The oil drop hurt many of us, it's funny how they are being so quiet about it.....

For me personally though it fed us I was never comfortable with its inability to care about the environment and the way those associated with said industry were in my opinion of questionable true caring character ....


So many stories, so little time left

[restorefreedom]

27. it really doesn.t seem to be mentioned much

definitely an imperfect world.🌺

[AuntPatsy]

28. Good thing I'm not the type that believes it's possible to have a perfect world so I'm less likely

to be disappointed...

[restorefreedom]

39. me total. total realist

it hurts less

[AuntPatsy]

40. I can't but agree, don't feel alone, sometimes talking helps :)

[restorefreedom]

50. yes it does.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. The Supreme Court has made a decision. It's the law now.

Like it or not, they don't have the option of disobeying it. I wonder whether we'll see a reprise of the Little Rock school integration fight, when the governor refused to obey Brown v. Board of Education.

[Cryptoad]

6. I noticed he didn't put his ass out on the line by,,,,

issuing a injunction ordering the county clerks not to !

[SusanCalvin]

11. 'Course not.

He encouraged them to put *their* asses on the line. Very brave.

[dixiegrrrrl]

19. Ala. Chief Justice DID put his sorry ass on the line

and ordered all 67 of the county judges not to issue licenses.
Only 3 County Judges said they wouldn't but several Judges said they will refuse to perform ANY marriages from here on in, leaving it to the clergy to do so.
And of course clergy can refuse to do so.

[Cryptoad]

34. Seems like I remember ocne before him be removed from the court

for not obeying a Federal Court. Hopefully it will happen again!

[dixiegrrrrl]

41. He got rewarded for his earlier refusal to obey the law

He refused to remove the 10 Commandments from his court room, big brouhaha followed, he was in all the papers and got much screaming support from the fundies.
Lost the case, but then ran for Chief Justice of the state, and won, a seat from which he know pulls another
George Wallace tactic in refusing to recognize the authority of both the Federal Court who ordered compliance with marriage license and now SCOTUS.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

7. I am wondering if the President will need to call out the National Guard.

Like they had to do to integrate the school in the Fifties and Sixties.

Eisenhower and Kennedy did it.

[eggplant]

29. Modern shotgun weddings.

In the past, they were leveled at the groom. Now it'll be the officiant.

[NJCher]

42. that would make a political cartoon!

very funny.


Cher

[randys1]

52. Federal troops are absolutely called for.

These vicious terrorist bigots cant be allowed to get their way for even one day.

[Geronimoe]

8. Can they also not issue divorce certificate

Texas is full of radical fundamentalists with archaic ideology of hate and intolerance. And they love destroying the planet and life with their greed for money from oil.

[PSPS]

9. Does the AG have to be a member of the Bar?

If so, does Texas have an actual real Bar Association, unlike California's joke Bar?

[dem in texas]

32. Ken Paxton may not be a member of the bar much longer

Ken Paxton faces disbarment because of illegal selling of securities. He is supposed to be indicted by a grand jury in July. Shows what sorry people the Republicans are electing in Texas.

[delrem]

10. Nice to see such submission to the Church of Jesus Christ Christian-Aryan Nations.

And, of course, to Islam (booga-booga!)

Sounds like Texas wants to turn the offices of county clerks into snake pits of weirdness.

[RKP5637]

12. Ain't religion just wonderful diabolical shit full of weirdness. n/t

[melm00se]

46. Religion is not the cause of this

but rather the excuse.

[RKP5637]

48. Excellent point!!! n/t

[bucolic_frolic]

14. Religious beliefs have no point being exercised

in the performance of secular or government related business.
No one is assaulting my religious beliefs if they do things or believe
things that I disagree with. There are always people lesser and greater,
I cannot coerce them into accepting my beliefs. The Ten Commandments
are bedrock, almost everything else has nuances from religion to religion.

I thought this was all settled in the Middle Ages

This is like a war between church and state, a new Reformation
for the modern age.

These people are wacko!

[HooptieWagon]

15. Fine. Let the DoJ keep watch over them.

Make a few arrests, that will get the message through their thick skulls.

[Malraiders]

16. So can Texans examine a clerk who refuses to issue a license on

religious grounds to be sure that the clerk is indeed a religious person and not merely a bigotted homophobe?

[Dustlawyer]

35. Our clerk is going to do it, but she was waiting on "proper forms" since the old

ones have only the two separate genders for man and wife. Some clerks using common sense and just hand writing it in. Our clerk is worried she will be charged with a "gotcha" for doing that!

[Malraiders]

38. I'm sure our republican AG will get on that issue ASAP. Abbott and

Paxton both think that religious freedom trumps civil rights in Texas.

[delrem]

53. Not unless the clerk practices "sharia law".

Then watch the bombs drop!!!

[Unknown Beatle]

17. If the damn right wing wackos in Texas

would stop stealing fucking elections, most notably the governorship as well as other high positions within the state government, this would not be a problem.

Wendy Davis won but the right wing assholes placed Abbott in the governors mansion.

I know this should be a different topic, but it's been documented that Texas right wingers are notorious for stealing state elections, yet nothing's done about it.

[randr]

18. That'll cost them

With all the money they save not helping the poor and women they probably think they can afford the fight.

[TexasBushwhacker]

20. Let the lawsuits begin

What he should have said is if the clerk had an objection to issuing a marriage license to a same sex couple they should GET ANOTHER JOB. It's the law of the land. Get used to it.

[restorefreedom]

22. right. same thing with cake bakers and the wedding issue

if you have a public storefront or interact with the public, do your damn job. if religious convictions interfere, you are free to seek alternate work.

what is it they say about people making shit wages? "well they don't have to work there."

touche!

[Gothmog]

24. Texas has not lost enough lawsuits

Texas needs to waste more money on legal fees on cases that the state will lose

[dobleremolque]

30. I'd love to claim this as original, but I can't...

There was this comment on another blog, too good not to share: "Stupidistan governed by the Ya'll Qaeda."

[a la izquierda]

45. Lol, welcome to DU.

Love the user name.

[Democat]

31. If a Texas government employee is Christian, can he refuse to help Muslim/Jewish/Atheist customers?

This doesn't make any sense at all.

[Iliyah]

33. The Founding Fathers foreseen this and thats why its stated

"Separation of Church and State"

[kacekwl]

36. Again these "freedom of religious rights folks

want to impose their religion on everyone else. Sounds so much like this Sharia Law we hear so much about . People just do your job , collect your pay check and move on. If you feel so strongly donate your pay to the religion of your choice or better yet put a steeple on your house and be done with it.

[Darb]

37. If their superstition prohibits them from doing their job they should move on,

or be put in a different position. Or be fired.

If a situation arises where someone's "deeply held" religious beliefs leads them to refuse to do their job and the county gets sued, it would be pretty easy to pick apart that "deeply held" bullshit.

[DebJ]

43. Since SCOTUS said they have three weeks to appeal, does this mean they can wait until after the

3 week period? Just curious, not sure how this works.

[Scalded Nun]

44. How do you handle the assholes in these states?

You cut off their money. Pull funds.
Like the loony crap that went on with the military exercises. There was no good reason for any of the crap this state pulled, they just stirred shit up to keep their crazy followers fired up. How about this...Close military bases in the state and move their missions to other locations (preferably to states that understand law).
Texas is not as bad as other 'Red' states (insofar as take, take, take), but to the states that want to be dicks, I say be dicks right back. And the biggest dick is the one who controls your sugar-daddy money.

[closeupready]

47. And TX gay couples have hit the civil judgment jackpot.

And with a national approval level (for same-sex marriage) at 60%, not much chance of TX winning.

[ladjf]

51. The AG should be arrested by federal agents. nt

[delrem]

54. As an advocate of universal sharia law, I congratulate this attorney general!

As an advocate of universal sharia law I stand proudly with Texas, that most enlightened state, for its leading role in advancing this foundational matter.

[Paladin]

55. Paxton's idiotic little ploy isn't working.

All the big urban areas in the state ignored it from the beginning, and my county, which is largely rural and regularly votes 75% Republican, started issuing same-sex marriage licenses yesterday.