The Supremacy Clause demands that state law yield to federal law, but neither federal supremacy nor any other principle of federal law requires that a state court’s interpretation of federal law give way to a (lower) federal court’s interpretation. In our federal system, a state trial court’s interpretation of federal law is no less authoritative than that of the federal court of appeals in whose circuit the trial court is located.
Lockhart v. Fretwell, 506 U.S. 364, 375-76 (1993) (Thomas, J., concurring). See also Steffel v. Thompson, 415 U.S. 452, 482, n. 3 (1974) (Rehnquist, J., concurring) (noting that a lower- federal-court decision “would not be accorded the stare decisis effect in state court that it would have in a subsequent proceeding within the same federal jurisdiction. Although the state court would not be compelled to follow the federal holding, the opinion might, of course, be viewed as highly persuasive.”).
Appreciate the information.
But, what exactly is the federal definition of marriage?
In 2013, The Supreme Court declared that the federal government must recognize same sex marriages from states which allowed same. The Court declared that the federal government could not define marriage as a man and a woman as had been done in the Defense of Marriage Act.
I think that, as of right now, there is no federal definition of marriage. Though we see federal judge after judge declaring traditional marriage in the states to be unconstitutional, there really is no federal definition of marriage as such which they are violating.
Then why did Alabama follow the Federal judge’s ruling?