Free Republic

More than 30 North Carolina magistrates so far have refused to perform weddings since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriages in all 50 states. But they’re not likely to suffer the fate of Kim Davis, the Tennessee county clerk who was recently jailed for her refusal. It turns out that taking this position is legal in North Carolina, according to CBN.com. Shortly after the Supreme Court’s June decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which held that same-sex marriage is a constitutionally guaranteed right, the North Carolina legislature passed a law enabling officials to opt out of performing marriages altogether. The...

(Courthouse News) – Two former magistrates sued the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts claiming it violated their religious rights by forcing them to participate in same-sex marriage ceremonies or face discipline, termination, and even criminal prosecution. Gilbert Breedlove and Thomas Holland claim in a lawsuit filed in the Wake County Superior Court that they resigned from their positions after the AOC and its director, John Smith, made no attempt to accommodate their religious beliefs while attempting to comply with the change in law on same-sex marriage. Instead, they say, the AOC forced them to choose between “taking an act...

Prospect of spike in arrests takes Mecklenburg magistrates off wedding duty during DNC weekTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS August 22, 2012 - 3:27 pm EDT CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Officials in Mecklenburg County say the local magistrates will have to forgo the romantic side of their job during the week of the Democratic National Convention. The Charlotte Observer reports that magistrates won't be able to conduct marriage ceremonies at the courthouse or the magistrate's office adjacent to the jail. That's because additional magistrates are being assigned to the jail to help deal with an anticipated spike in arrests during the convention.

A suspected looter in this week’s riots and his mother are being thrown out of their council home. In the first case of its kind, Daniel Sartain-Clarke, 18, and his mother have been served with an eviction notice as council bosses seek to turf them out of their £225,000 taxpayer-subsidised flat. Sartain-Clarke is charged with violent disorder and attempting to steal electronic goods from the Currys store at Clapham Junction, South London, on Monday night.