“I don’t encourage anyone to defy a federal court or state court order,” Moore stated, remarking that it is “ridiculous” to believe otherwise. “I gave them a status in the case, a status of the facts that these orders exist. That is all I did.”

He said that he sent a memo to his colleagues at the Alabama Supreme Court, which had issued an order in March 2015 halting the issuance of same-sex licenses in the state apart from Moore, urging them to provide guidance in light of the federal Obergefell decision. ...