Title: Ex parte Don Davis

State: alabama

Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court

Document:

STATE OF ALABAMA -- JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
THE SUPREME COURT
OCTOBER TERM, 2014-2015
1140456

Ex parte Don Davis,
Judge of Mobile County Probate Court

oRDER

The petition filed in this Court by the Mobile County
Probate Judge on February 9, 2015, in substance is a request
for an advisory opinion. Section 12-2-10, Ala. Code 1975,
authorizes this Court to address requests for advisory
opinions fron only the Governor or the Legislature. See
opinion of the Justices No, 199, 286 Ala. 156, 158, 238 So. 2d
326, 327 (1970). Because this Court is not authorized to
address this petition, the petition is dismissed,

PETITION DISMISSED

stuart, Main, Wise, and Bryan, JJ., concur.

Bolin, Murdock, and Shaw, JJ., concur specially.

Parker, J., concurs in the result

Moore, C.d., recuses himself.

hherowith set out as same appear(s) of recordin aid
Wiese my hae this Ly op orcs 1

conccloerlonn asta

 

 
1140456
BOLIN, Justice (concurring specially).
“What has been an orderly process, I suspect, will soon
resemble a three-ring circus." Tyson v. Macon Cnty, Greyhound
Kk, Inc., 43 So, 3d 587, 595 (Ala, 2010) (Woodall,

 

dissenting). Admittedly this quotation is taken out of
context. From the perspective of a probate judge in Alabama,
however, the events that have unfolded subsequent to the
issuance of the memorandum opinion and order by United States
District Judge Callie S$. Granade, in the United states
District Court for the Southern District of Alabama, Southern
Division, in Civil Action No. 14-0208-cG-N surely brings to
mind this quotation. I do not intend to trivialize the
important constitutional questions presented by this
controversy, but the unfortunate path this litigation has
taken so far has resulted in mass confusion that I suspect has
led the public to wonder what has happened to the orderly rule
of law.

As a former probate judge, I am aware of the many duties
imposed by law upon the office of probate judge, only one of
waich is judicial. Some of the other "hats" worn by some or

all probate judges include being the keeper of records and

 
1140456
documents that must be maintained for posterity, serving as
the chief election official of the county in all elections,
and, although this particularly may vary from county to
county, issuing a variety of licenses, e.g., hunting licenses,
fishing licenses, driver's license renewals, automobile-tag
renewals, and marriage licenses.

Although I concur fully with the dismissal of the action
herein, as will be addressed further below I am disappointed
and concerned that, amongst everyone heretofore connected with
the constitutional issues and the litigation, nowhere has
there been a probate judge with a seat as a party at any of
these proceedings, except for Mobile County Probate Judge Don
Davis, who was diemissed from the proceedings on duly 25,
2014, and added again as a party on February 10, 2015. The
only two judicial participants who exercised wisdom,
restraint, and discretion on the record were United states
Supreme Court Justices Thomas and Scalia. I specifically refer
to Justice Thomas's dissent to the United states Supreme
Court's denial of a stay in the federal court matter, which
Justice Scalia joined and which states as follows:

wThe Attomey General of Alabama asked us to
stay a federal injunction preventing him from

 
1140456 '

enforcing several provisions of Alabama law defining
marriage as a legal union of one man and one woman
pending our consideration of Obergefell v. Hodses,
No. 14-556; Tanco v. Haslam, No. 14-562; DeBoer v.
Snyder, No. 14-571; and Bourke v. Beshear, No.
14-574, Those cases are scheduled to be argued this
‘Term and present the same constitutional question at
issue here: Whether the Fourteenth Amendment
requires States to recognize unions between two
people of the same sex as a marriage under state
law.

 

 

en courts declare state laws unconstitutional \
and enjoin state officials from enforcing then, our
ordinary practice is to suspend those injunctions
from taking effect pending appellate review. see,
e.g., Herbert v. Kitchen, (Ms. 13A687, January 6,
2014] 571 U.S. (2014); see also san Diegans for
Mt, Soledad Nat War Menoxial v. Paulson, 548 9.8.
1301 (2006) (Kennedy, J., in chambers) (staying an i
injunction requiring a city to renove its religious |
memorial). Although a stay is not a matter of right,
this practice reflects the particularly strong
showing that States are often able to make in favor
of such a stay. Because States are required to i
comply with the Constitution, and indeed take care
to do so when they enact their laws, it is a rare
case in which a State will be unable to make at
least some showing of a likelihood of success on the
merits. States also easily meet the requirement of
irreparable injury, for '"{alny time a state is
enjoined by a court from effectuating statutes
enacted by representatives of its people, it suffers
a form of irreparable injury."' Maryland v, King,

 

 

(Ms. 12948, July 30, 2012] 567 U.S. (2012)
(quoting New Motor Vehicle Bd. of Cal. v. Orrin W,

Fox Co,, 434 U.S. 1345, 1351 (1977) (Rehnquist, J.,
in chambers)). The equities and public interest
likewise generally weigh in favor of enforcing duly
enacted state laws

(slip op., at 2-3) (Roberts, C.J., in chambers) |
1140456

"It was thus no surprise when we granted a stay
in eimilar circumstances a little over a year ago.
See Herbert v. Kitchen, gupra. Nor was it a surprise
when we granted a stay in similar circumstances less
than six months ago. McQuigg v, Bostic, [Ms. 140196,
Aug. 20, 2014] 573 U.S. _ (2024). Those decisions
reflected the appropriaté respect we owe to States
as sovereigns and to the people of those States who
approved those laws.

"This application should have been treated no
differently. That the Court more recently denied
several stay applications in this context is of no
moment. Those denials followed this Court's decision
in October not to review seven petitions seeking
further review of lower court judgments invalidating
state marriage laws. Although I disagreed with the
decisions to deny those applications, Armstrong v.

 

Brenner, ante, p. __; Hilson v. Condon, ante, D. _i
Moser v. Marie, ake, p. __, 1 acknowledge that

there was at least an argument that the October
decision justified an inference that the Court would
be less likely to grant a writ of certiorari to
consider subsequent petitions. That argument is no
longer credible. The Court has now granted a writ of
certiorari to review these important issues and will
do so by the end of the Term. The Attorney General
of Alabama is thus in an even better position than
the applicant to whom we granted a stay in Herbert

yet rather than treat like applicants alike,
the Court looks the other way as yet another Federal
District Judge caste aside state laws without making
any effort to preserve the status quo pending the
Court's resolution of a constitutional question it

left open in United States v. Windsor, [Ms. 12-307,
June 26, 2013] 570 U.S (2013) (slip op., at

25-26). This acquiescence may well be seen as a
signal of the Court's intended resolution of that
question. This is not the proper way to discharge
our Article III responsibilities. And, it is
1140456

indecorous for this Court to pretend that it is.

Today's decision represents yet another example

this rt's increasingly cavi
toward the States. Over the past few montns, the

Court has repeatedly denied stays of lower court
judgments enjoining the enforcement of state laws on
questionable constitutional grounds. See, e.g.,
Mari ey v z-Valenzuela, (Ms. 140493,
Nov. 13, 2014) 574 U.S. __, (2014) (slip op.,
at 2) (Thomas, J., joined by Scalia, J., respecting
denial of application for stay) (collecting cases)
It has similarly declined to grant certiorari to
review such judgments without any regard for the
people who approved those laws in popular
referendums or the elected representatives who voted
for them. In this case, the Court refuses even to
grant a temporary stay when it will resolve the
issue at hand in several months.

"I respectfully dissent from the denial of this
application. I_would have shown the people of

Alabama the x: they deserve and preserved the
1 Et resol: his important
constitutional question."
Strange v. Searcy, [Ms. 140840, February 9, 2015] 574 U.S
, —— (2015) (emphasis addeq) .

The highly emotional issue involved in the federal
proceeding, on both sides of the argument, it appears will be
decided only by the United states supreme Court. The
plaintiffs in the two cases decided by the federal district
court could have joined the various probate judges in the

State as parties, if nothing else, as relief parties. For
1404s
chat matter, the federal district court could have provided
chat the probate judges were made defendants. see Rules 19
and 20, Fed. 8. Civ. P, (allowing for joinder and permissive
joinder, respectively). This would have allowed the probate
judges notice and an opportunity to be heard. Rather, the
only probate judge made an original party to the federal court
action was Judge Davis, the petitioner in the instant
proceeding, who was later dismissed from that action with
prejudice and who has now been added as a party again, The
federal district judge in her order acknowledged both that the
united states Supreme Court has granted certiorari in a case
to be decided in this Term of Court and that that case will
"definitively" decide the important constitutional issues
involved, However, the same federal district court denied a
stay past February 9, 2015, although the definitive decision
lies just four months ahead. rt is my judgment that the
united states Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, with
due respect, also contributed to the resulting confusion by

refusing to take further action in this and similar same-sex-

 

marriage cases in that circuit until the United States Supreme

Court issues a decision and by denying a stay of the federal
1140456
court matter before Judge Granade. While all of the above was
occurring, the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court sent
a letter to the probate judges giving them advice on how to
address this issue, together with a memorandum of law, and
finally issued an order to the probate judges on the eve of

yn of the federal court's temporary stay that

 

the expiral
reflected a view of the law that directly conflicted with the
federal judge's view of the law as espoused in her order.

The ensuing legal "circus" has left the probate judges,
who had no voice or opportunity to be heard in this matter,
an untenable position -- caught between a federal district
judge's order, the statewide precedential value of which is
uncertain, and an order from the Chief Justice of the Alabama
Supreme Court. If the term "circus" is hyperbole, the current
predicament at least qualifies as a "darned if I do, darned if
1 don't" dilemma for the probate judges, and this is no way to
wisely, fairly, and deliberately administer justice.

‘The Chief Justice has wide powers pursuant to § 12-2-
30(b) (7) and (8), Ala, Code 1975, but the question arises as
to whether those powers apply to probate judges’

administrative, as opposed to judicial, actions. should a

 
1140456

 

probate judge follow the order of the chief judicial officer

 

in the State of Alabama? Or should the probate judge follow
an order of a federal district judge, of which he or she has
possibly been made aware by media or by word of mouth through
his or her professional association, not by having had a seat
at the table in the courtroom as a party? There are many
federal district judges in the three federal districts in

Alabama, From a precedential standpoint, what happens if the

which

 

opinions of two federal district judges conflict:
opinion, if either, would be the binding precedent on a
federal question? who wins if there is a conflict between a
federal court order and a state-court opinion on a federal
question? Although I do not agree with the entirety of the
article, these questions were recently examined in the
introduction to that article in the Vanderbilt Law Review,
which does state correctly the following pivotal questions:

"Lower federal court precedent cannot bind state
courts, or so we are told, Most state courts assert
that they are free to reach their own conclusions
about the meaning of federal law, even when doing so
creates a conflict with the federal court of appeals
presiding over the geographic region in which they
sit. Several federal circuits have conceded that
their decisions are not binding on state courts,
and, in concurring opinions, two justices have
emphatically agreed. A number of federal courts
 

1140456

scholars have declared that state courts need not
follow lower federal court precedent because state
courts are ‘coordinate’ with lower federal courts
and not ‘subordinate! to them.

‘and yet, upon closer inspection, the role of
lower federal court precedent in state court
decisionmaking remains unclear. A few state courts
appear to believe that they are bound to follow the
decisions of the federal courts of appeals on
questions of federal law, and many others have
issued inconsistent opinions on that question. The
U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Bighth and Ninth
Circuits claim that state courts must follow their
lead on federal questions, creating a circuit split
that has never been resolved by the Supreme Court.
only a handful of legal scholars have opined on the
matter, and most have done so in passing in articles
devoted to other subjects. Remarkably, then, this
significant question about the interplay between the
state and federal judicial systems lingers
anresolved more than two-hundred years after the
Constitution's ratification. t

"the xelationship between the lower federal
courts and the state courts raises foundational
questions about the place of those federal courts in
Gur constitutional structure, Are the lower federal

rts’ interpretatis f_federal lay
i the
Supreme Col
Alternatively, are state _and lower federal courts |
soequals under the Constitution such that neithe:

1_the other's ruling:

‘the Supreme Court have the constitutional authority
fo Tequire that stare courte follow lower federal

Z

oR

‘sourt_pr 2 i inci ft
federalien forbid ouch intexference with state
institutions, or bec: ni

Judicial independence, or both?

 

"similar foundational questions were

10
 

1140456

seventy-five years ago in Erie Railroad v, Tompkins,
[304 U.S. 64, 71 (1938),] when the Supreme Court
overruled swift v, Tyson, [41 U.S. (16 Pet.) 1, 18
(1842),] and held that federal courts must follow
state law as articulated by a state's highest court.
The Court explained that federal courts undermined
state sovereignty by failing to treat state courts’
views on state law as controlling. Although Exie
focused on the federal courts’ obligation to adopt
state common law, the decision confirmed that
federal courts ‘must follow state courts’
interpretations of state positive law as well. The
bottom line after Erie is that state courts have the
final word on the meaning of state law.

 

“Exie is one of a handful of iconic cases that
has shaped our understanding of not only the
relationship between state and federal courts but
s0 our entire federal system, According to John
Hart Ely, Brie ‘implicates, indeed perhaps it is,
the very essence of our federalism.’ And yet Brie
left the job half done. The case tells us how
federal courts should treat state courts’ precedent
on state law, but it does not address how state
courts should respond to federal courts’
interpretation of federal law. Of course, some might
argue that Exie supports the conclusion that state
courts are bound only by the Supreme Court on
questions of federal law, just as federal courts are
required to follow only the precedent of the highest
court of the state on questions of state law. And
yet the unique and limited role of the Supreme Court
creates a significant disjunction: the Court cannot
quickly resolve disputes between state and federal
courts on the meaning of federal law, leaving
intrastate splits to linger between these court
systems for decades.”

Amanda Frost, Inferiority Complex: Should State Courts Follow
Lower Federal Court Precedent on the Meaning of Federal Law?,

 

a
3404s
68 Vand. L. Rev. 53, 55-59 (2015) (footnotes omitted; emphasis
added) .

The purpose of this writing is not to try today to answer
the questions posed by the article quoted above. It is
offered solely to illustrate the probable angst and
consternation that each of the 68 probate judges of this state
has undergone since the federal court's order and Chief
Sustice Moore's order were issued, and it did not have to be
this way.

Ae stated above, I place the blame for the confusion that
now exists in the various probate courts of this State since

the two-week stay expired at the feet of everyone involved,

 

save the Attorney General, who has properly requested a stay
at all levels, and gustices Thonas and Scalia, who offered a
solution that would have delayed this matter for only four
months or less -- after which we would have had the final
answer, no confusion, and, most importantly, an orderly
administration of justice

In conclusion, I feel compelled to comment on a portion
of the amended pleading in the “In Rem Action" that is

actually before thie Court and that the Court properly

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1140456
dismisses. There is 2 portion contained in the "action" with
which T sharply disagree. 1 quote from paragraph 7 of the
"action":

"7, If this Court either fails to docket this
amended in rem action regarding the Administrative
Order or fails to address this amended in rem action
filed within this Court before the federal court in
the Southern District of Alabama enters an Order
requiring Judge Davis to abide by the above federal
court orders, then Judge Davis will accept this
Honorable Court's failure to act on this amended in
xem _matter ae an implicit directive to Judge Davis
to abide by the Orders of the Southern District of
Alabama on January 23rd and also January 28th, 2015

Judge Davis anticipates that Judge Granade could
enter this Order as quickly as tomorrow based on the
Order the judge has entered today."

 

(Bmphasis added.)

With due regard for the fact that the above document was
submitted to this Court by a probate judge who is suffering
the uncertainties set forth in this writing, I would caution
any litigant coming before this court that, although,
proverbially, silence may be golden, the silence of this
court, as an institution, should never be treated as an

“implicit directive" to take any particular course of action.

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1140456
MURDOCK, Justice (concurring specially).

‘The amended petition before us quotes from the February

 

2015, order of Judge Granade in the case of Searcy v.
Strange (Ms, 14-0208, S.D, Ala., gan, 23, 2015), stating that
her injunction in that case “enjoined ... [the] Attorney

General for the state of Alabama" and those under his
supervision and that, because the petitioner was not a party
to that case, his actions or inactions did not constitute a
“fail[ure] to comply with th[at] order." ‘The petitioner asks
this Court for guidance with respect to the issue of the
constitutionalicy of the various statutes enacted by the
Alabama Legislature providing for the governmental licensing
and recognition of what are referred to in those statutes as
vmarriages," see Ala. Code 1975, §§ 30-1-3 through -19.
Inherent in the petitioner's request for guidance,
particularly given the facts alleged in the petition, is
whether, under the terms of those statutes, particularly § 30-
1-9, @ probate judge has an affirmative obligation to issue
marriage licenses at all, and whether, under the principles
articulated in such cases as Newton v, City of Tuscaloosa, 251
Ala, 209, 36 So, ad 487 (1948), and City of Birmingham v.

14
1140456
smith, 507 So, 24 1312 (Ala. 1987), and considering the
meaning of the term "marriage" intended by the Legislature in
those statutes, they may be deemed to survive, or mist be
stricken as wholly void, i¢ they are not to be applied solely
co a union between a man and a woman.’ These are substantial
questions. These questions, however, are not before us in an
adversary proceeding or in the context of a request for an
advisory opinion by the Governor or the Legislature, Nor has

exe been a showing that these questions are properly before

 

us on some other basis. I therefore concur in the order of

this court.

inthe act ‘ought not to be wholly void unless the invalid
portion is so important to the general plan and operation of
the law in its entirety as reasonably to lead to the
conclusion that it would not have been adopted if the
legislature had perceived the invalidity of the part so held

  

 

to be unconstitutional.'" 251 Ala. at 217, 36 So. 2d at 493
(quoting A, Bertolla & Sons v. State, 247 Ala. 269, 271, 24
So. 2d 23, 25 (1945)). "The test is ... whether the

legislature would have passed the statute without the
[unconstitutional aspect included therein]." 507 So. 2d at
1317.

1s
1140456
SHAW, Justice (concurring specially)

In the matter before this Court, Mobile County Probate
court Judge Don Davis references an order of the United states
District Court for the Southern District of Alabama that
states: "Ala. Const. Art. I, § 36.03 (2006) and Ala. Code
1975, § 30-1-19 are unconstitutional ...." Searcy v, Strange
(Ms. 14-0208, Jan. 23, 2015). Judge Davis then notes that on
February 8, 2015, Alabama's Chief Justice issued an
administrative order stating that “no Probate Judge of the
State of Alabama nor any agent or employee of any Alabama
Probate Judge shall issue or recognize a marriage license that
is inconsistent with Article I, Section 36.03, of the Alabama
Constitution or § 30-1-19, Ala. Code 1975."

‘he matter Judge Davis filed in this Court states that it
"is filed in order to give this Honorable Court acting as the
entixe Supreme Court of Alabama the opportunity to review the
application of the above Administrative order." ‘This
invitation to "review" the administrative order issued by the
Chief gustice, in my view, is a request for an advisory
opinion. However, only the governor or the legislature may

request an advisory opinion. Ala. Code 1975, § 12-2-10 ("The

16
1140456
Governor, by a request in writing, or either house of the
Legislature, by a resolution of such house, may obtain a
written opinion of the justices of the Supreme Court of
Alabama or a majority thereof on important constitutional
questions."). See also Opinion of the Justices No, 199, 236
Ala. 156, 158, 238 So. 24 326, 327 (1970) ("[T]he present
request originated not with the Governor, but with the Contest
Subcommittee of the State Committee ..., which course of
action is not within the purview of (§ 12-2-10). To hold
otherwise would add a new concept to the prerogatives of [§
22-2-10] and set a new precedent for litigants to request
advisory opinions whenever the constitutionality of a law
arises."). This Court is not empowered "'to give advisory
opinions, however convenient it might be to have these
questions decided for the government of future cases.'*
Stamps_v. Jefferson Cnty. Bd. of Hduc., 642 So. 2d 941, 944
(Ala. 1994) (quoting Town of Warrior v. Blaylock, 275 Ala
113, 114, 152 So. 24 661, 662 (1963) (emphasis omitted)). See
also AIRCO, Inc, v. Alabama Pub. Serv. Comm'n, 360 So, 24 970,
971 (Ala. 1978) ("To render an opinion based solely upon the

Commission's alleged improper actions (without seeking a

a7
1140456
remedy therefrom) or upon its prospective improprieties would

be to render impermissible advisory opinions.)

 

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