There are only two and a half weeks left in the current Supreme Court session, and Alabamians are still waiting on a definitive answer regarding same-sex marriage.
Gay marriage is currently legal in Alabama, but a state Supreme Court ruling has ordered all county probate judges not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. U.S. District Judge Callie Granade passed a ruling that would force those probate judges to begin issuing licenses, but that won’t go into effect until after the Supreme Court rules.
We recently spoke with NPR’s Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg about the case. She says a ruling in favor of gay marriage is likely – but not certain.
“You can surmise where the court’s going on this, because they’ve let so many lower court rulings go into effect that made same-sex marriage legal. But you can’t forecast what the Supreme Court’s going to do.”
Totenberg says the Supreme Court will most likely render their verdict on same-sex marriage in the last week of June, or July 1 at the latest.
A Tuscaloosa restaurant that was destroyed by the 2011 tornado is back. The first patrons of the original Milo’s cut the ribbon at the restaurant’s open house this morning. The popular hamburger joint was one of many businesses destroyed in the April 27th 2011 twisters that swept through Alabama. Tom Dekle is the Milo’s Chief Executive Officer. He says it was important to come back to Tuscaloosa.
“ We had a wonderful relationship with the community in Tuscaloosa, there is a steady flow of students who go back and forth. We always intended to come back we just didn’t have the chance to do that in the first year or two the city was sorting out the regulations and zoning ordinances.”
The restaurant officially reopens tomorrow morning at six A.M.
Selma city officials say the 75th anniversary celebration of the Edmund Pettus bridge has been pushed back because of a scheduling concern.
City councilwoman Susan Keith tells the Selma Times-Journal a celebration that was scheduled for June 19 at the foot of the bridge has been pushed back to June 30.
The initial date coincided with Juneteenth - the anniversary of the end of slavery - and Keith says the celebration could have been considered hurtful or offensive.
The bridge's namesake, Edmund Pettus, was a two-term U.S senator, a Confederate general and a KKK grand dragon.