Alabama

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley, a conservative Republican, is considering the expansion of the state's Medicaid program, the Associated Press' Kim Chandler reports. Bentley, a dermatologist by training, remarked, "'I am concerned about the plight of the working poor ... If doctors are not paid for seeing those patients, doctors will not go to rural Alabama because you can't expect a doctor to go to rural Alabama and lose money."' The governor, however, said that funding the expansion would be a challenge.

As of this morning, U.S. District Judge Callie Granade has ordered all probate judges in Alabama to issue same-sex marriage licenses, NBC News' Pete Williams and Kathryn Robinson report.

Prior to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling Friday that denying same-sex couples the right to marry is a constitutional violation, there was back-and-forth in Alabama on whether to issue same-sex marriage licenses. Granade overturned Alabama's ban on same-sex marriages, but Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore ordered probate judges not to issue licenses to same-sex couples.

Alabama lawmakers have passed a bill to shield brand-name drug companies and medical-device manufacturers from liability for generic versions of their products, Reuters' Brendan Pierson reports. Last year, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that drugmakers and device makers could face liability for innovating a product that harmed patients who take generic versions of their drugs.

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley is expected to sign the bill.

Alabama blogger Roger Shuler has been ordered to pay $3.5 million in damages in a defamation lawsuit, Alabama Media Group's Kent Faulk reports. The lawsuit was brought by a former campaign manager for Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange over Shuler's posts about an alleged affair between Strange and the campaign manager. He also alleged that Strange was the father of the campaign manager's son.

Shuler  already spent five months in jail before agreeing to remove his posts about the son of a former governor.

A new wrinkle has developed in the tussle between the federal judiciary and the Alabama judiciary over the fate of same-sex marriage in that state, the Los Angeles Times' James Queally and Ryan Parker report. The Alabama Supreme Court ruled yesterday that judges should not issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples even though a federal judge has ruled the state's ban on same-sex matrimony is unconstitutional: "Six of the court’s nine justices concurred and a seventh did so in part in the 148-page ruling, published Tuesday night."

Chief Justice Roy Moore, who ordered the state's probate judges not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, recused himself from the decision. But the federal judge who declared the ban unconstitutional ordered all of the state's probate judges to comply with her order.

The Alabama Supreme Court cited confusion among the state's probate judges as the reason that licenses should not be issued right now, Queally and Parker report.

A federal judge has ordered an Alabama probate judge not to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples anymore, the Montgomery Advertiser's Brian Lyman reports. The probate judge closed his marriage-license bureau after Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore on Sunday ordered probate judges not to issues licenses to same-sex couples. U.S. District Judge Ginny Granade struck down Alabama's constitutional and statutory bans on same-sex matrimony, and the stay on her order was lifted Monday. At the close of the business day, 19 counties were not issuing marriage licenses, and 25 had closed their bureaus altogether.

As of Monday afternoon, 49 of 67 counties in Alabama refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses in Alabama, Montgomery Advertiser's Brian Lyman reports. Even though a federal judge has struck down the state's ban on same-sex marriage, Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has ordered the probate judges not to issue same-sex marriages. The U.S. Supreme Court also refused to grant a stay against the issuance of same-sex marriage licenses.

U.S. District Judge Ginny Granade, who struck down the state's ban on same-sex matrimony, denied a motion for contempt against Mobile County Probate Judge Don Davis for refusing to issue marriage licenses, ruling that the parties had not yet shown they were harmed by a failure for the constitution to be followed.

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has ordered a ban on same-sex marriage licenses, even though a federal judge in Alabama has found the state's ban on same-sex nuptials unconstitutional, the Montgomery Advertiser's Brian Lyman reports. The stay on the federal court decision is set to expire today. The chief justice argued that federal district and appellate courts had no binding authority on state courts, Lyman reports. What effect Moore's orders will have is still unclear. 

U.S. District Judge Callie V.S. Granade issued an order clarifying her ruling that Alabama's bans on same-sex marriage violate the equal protection and due process protections in the 14th Amendment, the Washington Blade's Chris Johnson reports. The clarification came after the Alabama Probate Judges Association issued a non-binding order saying the decision only applies to the plaintiffs before Granade, and the judge's order implies that the ruling has universal effect in Alabama.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has filed an ethics complaint against Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore. Moore, a conservative jurist who already was replaced once as chief justice because he refused to remove a monument depicting the 10 Commandments from a judicial building, stated in a letter that a federal judge's decision striking down Alabama's ban on same-sex marriage could lead to the legal recognition of polyamorous or incestuous marriages. Moore also said he will continue to recognize Alabama's ban. The SPLC said Moore's statement did not conform to the canons of judicial ethics.