Clerk challenges same-sex ruling
West Texas woman vows to defend ‘natural marriage’ against courts
A West Texas county clerk vowed to defy the U.S. Supreme Court and not grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
In a 1,100-word “declaration of obedience to law and defense of natural marriage,” Irion County Clerk Molly Criner called the Supreme Court’s June 26 ruling “an opinion with no basis in the Constitution, the Fourteenth Amendment, American law, or Western history.”
She went on to say issuing marriage licenses to homosexual couples would violate her religious beliefs.
Criner said she “shall resist unlawful federal or state court encroachments upon the prerogative of the People of Texas to protect Natural Marriage, and shall only issue marriage licenses consistent with Texas law, so help me God.”
Criner’s declaration follows an opinion offered by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton days after the ruling, in which he contended Texas county clerks could opt not to issue same-sex marriage licenses if it offended their religious sensibilities and if another person, such as a deputy, was present to provide the service. Although most clerks ignored the opinion, at least two heeded Paxton’s words and faced swift lawsuits.
Elsewhere in the nation, a handful of other county clerks have resigned or refused to offer same-sex marriage licenses in protest, including in Indiana and Tennessee, and have faced lawsuits.
But in rural Irion County, seated in the 800-person town of Mertzon, no resident has requested a license for a same-sex marriage, according to the Florida-based Liberty Counsel, which is offering free legal representation to Criner and other county clerks who decline to license same-sex marriages.
Criner’s office directed all queries to the Liberty Counsel.
“The Liberty Counsel is committed to defending clerks who stand for natural marriage,” said Counsel attorney Richard Mast. “We have given (Criner) assurances of representation.”
He said the group also represents Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis in Kentucky, who faces litigation after denying marriage licenses to four couples. A hearing will be held Monday. For a summary of the legal defense, Mast pointed to Criner’s declaration, which he said the counsel helped compose. He said the ruling on marriage was beyond the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.
“Not all orders claiming authority under color of law are lawful,” said Criner’s declaration. “Unlawful orders, no matter their source — whether from a military commander, a federal judge, or the United States Supreme Court — are and remain unlawful, and should be resisted.”
The declaration also compared the court’s marriage ruling to past decisions that upheld slavery, affirmed states’ rights to sterilize some mentally ill people and supported the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.