A federal judge in Mississippi has ruled that state clerks are not allowed to deny people same-sex marriage licenses, despite a state bill seeking to give clerks exemptions based on their religious beliefs.
According to U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves, the exemptions on religious grounds granted by the state’s recently signed House Bill 1523 violates the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in the Obergefell case, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
“Mississippi’s elected officials may disagree with Obergefell, of course, and may express that disagreement as they see fit — by advocating for a constitutional amendment to overturn the decision, for example,” Reeves wrote in his 16-page ruling Monday. “But the marriage license issue will not be adjudicated anew after each legislative session.”
The state’s “Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act” is set to become law Friday. Reeves did not yet rule on other provisions in the legislation that contain a set of religious exemption provisions regarding same-sex couples.
Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves slammed the judge’s decision.
“If this opinion by the federal court denies even one Mississippian of their fundamental right to practice their religion, then all Mississippians are denied their First Amendment rights. I hope the state’s attorneys will quickly appeal this decision to the 5th Circuit to protect the deeply held religious beliefs of all Mississippians,” he said in a statement.
Judge Reeves’ ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by the Campaign for Southern Equality.
“A year after the Supreme Court guaranteed marriage equality in the Obergefell decision, we are delighted that Judge Reeves reaffirmed the power of federal courts to definitively say what the United States Constitution means,” said Roberta Kaplan, a New York-based attorney who represents Campaign for Southern Equality.
The Campaign for Southern Equality is also part of another lawsuit challenging H.B. 1523. Kaplan expects that ruling will too go in their favor.
Paul Barnes, the attorney representing Mississippi, said that no same-sex couple has been denied a marriage license in the state since the Obergefell decision. Barnes also argued that while clerks could recuse themselves from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, H.B. 1523 mandates how those clerks must tell the couples of other ways they can obtain a marriage license license.
