--- description: Moore is sticking to the Alabama supreme court ruling. title: Alabama's Chief Justice Orders Stop to Gay Marriage image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4114a58643461526/698877e9a988ca55746b5fcd/roy-moore1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [alabama](/tag/alabama/) ## alabama Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Alabama's Chief Justice Orders Stop to Gay Marriage by [Pete Williams / NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## Pete Williams / NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 6, 2016 9:37 PM CUT  Roy Moore poses in Montgomery, Ala. on Feb. 17, 2015. Roy Moore poses in Montgomery, Ala. on Feb. 17, 2015.Brynn Anderson—AP by [Pete Williams / NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## Pete Williams / NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 6, 2016 9:37 PM CUT The chief justice of Alabama’s supreme court ordered state officials Wednesday to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. But legal experts say the effect of his order is likely to be minimal and short-lived. Roy Moore, acting in his capacity as the administrative head of the state court system, said he was acting because “confusion and uncertainty” exists among the Alabama officials, known as probate judges, who issue marriage licenses in the state. Moore said they don’t know whether to abide by a ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court last March, which upheld the state’s ban on same-sex marriage… [_Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News_](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/alabama-chief-justice-orders-halt-gay-marriage-n491521?cid=par-time-article%5F20141002 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4170235/alabama-gay-marriage/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4170235/alabama-gay-marriage/"},"headline":"Alabama's Chief Justice Orders Stop to Gay Marriage","datePublished":"2016-01-06T21:37:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:50:35.588Z","description":"Legal experts say the effect of his order is likely to be short-lived","url":"https://time.com/4170235/alabama-gay-marriage/","keywords":["alabama","Gay Marriage","LGBT"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4114a58643461526/698877e9a988ca55746b5fcd/roy-moore1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Pete Williams / NBC News"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4114a58643461526/698877e9a988ca55746b5fcd/roy-moore1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Roy Moore","caption":"Roy Moore","creditText":"Brynn Anderson—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/alabama/","name":"alabama"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4170235/alabama-gay-marriage/","name":"Alabama's Chief Justice Orders Stop to Gay Marriage"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Behind the Scenes of a TIME Cover Shoot: Gay Marriage","description":"Behind the Scenes of a TIME Cover Shoot: Gay Marriage","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/FiD0ttYs/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-03-28T01:48:43.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FiD0ttYs.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4170235/alabama-gay-marriage/","duration":"PT1M46S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4170235/alabama-gay-marriage/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```