Judicial system has entered a crisis

To the editor:

A federal-district court judge ruled Alabama's ban on marriage equality unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to issue a stay on the federal ruling. As such, same-sex and opposite-sex couples should be able to marry in Alabama. Except, well, not so fast. The Alabama Supreme Court's Chief Justice ordered Alabama judges not to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

What does this mean? It means our nation's judicial system on the federal level and the state level entered a crisis. The word 'crisis” possibly seems too strong for some, but not for me. This crisis is about something more - something about our identities as U.S. citizens.

I am not sure what binds our country together. Did God create or have a hand in guiding our founders to craft such an elaborate government? Does our respect for the rule of law hold our delicate country together?

Whatever you think, I hope we can agree on several points. First, we live in the greatest country. Second, government is a system we rely on for justice. Third, without the federal judicial system and each state's judicial system fully operational and existing in comity, we become a nation not of citizens, but citizens without freedom.

Without respected and completely functioning judicial systems, our freedom dissolves. The judiciary protects our freedoms and is our last defender when others wish us harm. We must not let our nation submit to a constitutional crises wholly created and entered into by the likes of Alabama's chief justice.

Tyler Coe

Des Moines