Sen. Perry: Molly Criner is Headed for Jail

 

Irion County Clerk Molly Criner may end up in jail for refusing to issue marriage certificates to same-sex couples. That’s what State Senator Charles Perry predicts, but he doesn’t want it to happen. He’s on Criner’s side.

“I asked her, 'are you ready to go to jail over this?' And she said, yes, she was,” Perry said at the monthly luncheon with the Concho Valley Republican Women yesterday, Oct. 22.

Criner is the sole remaining county clerk in Texas who refuses to issue a same-sex marriage license. Eventually, a leftist activist group is going to test it, Perry said. And when they do, he said that Irion County could spend as much as $500,000 defending its county clerk.

Molly Criner’s Crusade

Criner gave a speech at the Oct. 8 “Pastors and Patriots” event in San Angelo where she explained that she believes her stand is for all Texans and their Constitutional rights. Criner’s stated central reason for her act of civil disobedience is that she took two oaths of office. One is to protect and defend the federal Constitution. The other was to protect and defend the Texas Constitution. After the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision mandating that same-sex marriages are legal on all 50 states, Criner argues, federal law no longer is congruent with the Texas Constitution.  The Texas Constitution can only be amended by a vote by the people, and Section 32 of the Texas Constitution states “Marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman.” The wording defining marriage in Texas was added on Nov. 8, 2005.

Molly Criner (YouTube.com screen grab, video by Christian Reporter News)

Above: Molly Criner from a YouTube screen grab of a video interview of Criner with Christian Reporter News.
 

“If I do this (sign same-sex marriage licenses), I’m breaking my oath,” she said.

Having someone in her office, or hiring a part-time same-sex marriage license issuer wasn’t an option for Criner either. “They are operating under my authority,” she said. Besides that, Criner claims her two assistant clerks in her small office are morally opposed to issuing same-sex marriage licenses too.

Criner said that when the Obergefell decision was handed down, the first reaction of many county clerks across the state was to stall. For example, like almost every Texas county clerk, Tom Green County Clerk Liz McGill wouldn’t issue a same-sex marriage license until the state supplied forms that removed the wording referring to a “man” and a “woman”.  Updated forms arrived within a week.

While waiting for the forms to arrive, Criner said she studied the Obergefell decision. “The more I read, the more something started to stir,” she said. “Everywhere else, everyone was hoping that something would break. It never did.”

Criner, a married mother of two teenagers, said that it was her husband who prodded her to make a decision to either resign or stand and fight. She considered her options.

She decided against resigning because she felt that her single year in office wasn’t enough to satisfy the expectations of the voters and her supporters. Also, she said, she felt that the Irion County Clerk’s office was finally running smoothly and a disruption would disappoint the county’s citizens. Then she considered the alternative, to stand and fight.

She knew a friend in Denver who stood up to leftist activists and called him for advice. “He said it will be awful,” Criner said. “’Don’t do it! They’ll come and camp out in your front yard,’” she said he warned her. “It just got scarier and scarier… We have two teenagers at home…”

Despite the ominous warnings, Criner took a stand: Her office would not issue a same-sex marriage license. And it hasn’t.

 “Once the word got out that we were making a stand in Irion County, people showed up to support us,” she said.

Criner stated that she believes she is not just standing up for her own religious liberty, but also for the every citizen of Texas, just about. “What about the 76 percent of Texans who [also] oppose this?” Criner asked, referring to the plurality of support for the 2005 Texas Constitutional amendment that defined marriage as being between a man and a woman only.

Perry said that the statutes aren’t aligned to allow the state to help Irion County much this time. “No matter what statute you pass, there’s going to be persecution,“ he said. But, Perry is working with Lt. Governor Dan Patrick to lay the groundwork to pass better legislation in 2017 to support future Criners.

Next Battle: Gender Identity in Texas Schools

The effort is to prepare the legal battlefield for a similar fight Perry predicts will overtake Texas within the next five years: Gender identity in Texas school districts.

Perry said that the leftist push to provide accommodations for transgender and transsexual school children is on the horizon. Pasadena Republican Rep. Gilbert Pena attempted to introduce a bill last session what was called a “bathroom bill”. It mandated that Texas school districts enact codes of conduct that ensure that only students of the same “biological sex” use the same bathrooms, showers and locker-room facilities. The bill never made it to the floor.

Perry’s general strategy to combat gender identity in Texas schools is to enact statutes around it, making it more difficult for courts to rule in favor of allowing transgender-declared students to choose which bathroom to use.

The tool the Left will use is money, Perry said.

“We can pass a law that says if the school board is sued over these issues, the Texas Attorney General can defend them.  You can tie the school districts to the state and federal interaction that will allow the state’s AG office to handle it,” he said.

Maybe Molly Criner’s fight, and a recent contentious town hall meeting with Perry and State Rep. Drew Darby in Mertzon, the Irion County seat, has encouraged Perry to redouble his efforts to protect religious liberty. After a July 2015 press release and a declaration promising to protect the religious liberty of Texas’ county clerks, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton relented and said that Obergefell and religious liberty can co-exist and that his office cannot defend county clerks who run afoul of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling (clerks refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses “may well face litigation and/or a fine,” he wrote). Paxton in effect said that Molly Criner and Irion County are on their own. And right now, so are Texas school districts.

“Today, if a school board gets sued, the state of Texas can’t defend them,” Perry said. “So we’ve got to have statute to make that connection.”

“Here’s the deal. It’s about the money and most school districts don’t have the resources to be involved in these lawsuits. We’ve got to get smarter about how we go about attacking this issue,” Perry said. “My prediction is that Texas will lead the nation on metrics and measures to push back on the federal courts and assert our state’s rights.”

County Judge Steve Floyd added that the county has at least 30 facilities, or buildings, and it’s in the planning stages of building a new jail. “To have to pay for every variation of what someone claims to be is going to get expensive. So it’s not just fighting lawsuits. It’s fighting the practical application of all of this and its impact on the county’s budget,” Floyd said.

For Perry and the rest of the Republican leadership around the state, Molly Criner’s crusade may well be the canary in the mine warning of the state’s upcoming arduous fight over the tension between sex, religious liberty, and money.

Notes:

Chelsea Reinhard and Amanda Henson on The Last Stand Against Gay Marriage in Irion County.

Sen. Perry sent letter to supporters of Molly Criner outlining efforts underway to create statutes in Texas Law to protect religious freedom. View it here.

See Molly Criner speak in the video below, by the Christian Reporter News:

 

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Before I get started I want to state that I am a Christian, I am a conservative, and I am opposed to gay marriage. As a Christian we are instructed to follow the laws that govern us. So that leaves Molly Criner and those like her with two choices. Stand firm for her beliefs and go to jail or stand firm for her beliefs and resign.

I know that many of my conservative counterparts will not agree with what I am saying but I really don't care. If you are going to profess to be a Christian and stand for what you believe, make sure that you are following what the bible says and not just parts of it. Can Christians protest and stand up for what we believe, absolutely. But if you are an elected official and subject to the laws that govern our nation and state, then you have to obey the law. Choices have consequences.

"Criner argues, federal law no longer is congruent with the Texas Constitution."

The Supremacy Clause is the provision in Article Six, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution that establishes the United States Constitution, federal statutes, and treaties as "the supreme law of the land." It provides that these are the highest form of law in the United States legal system, and mandates that all state judges must follow federal law when a conflict arises between federal law and either a state constitution or state law of any state.

In Ableman v. Booth, 62 U.S. 506 (1859), the Supreme Court held that state courts cannot issue rulings that contradict the decisions of federal courts, citing the Supremacy Clause, and overturning a decision by the Supreme Court of Wisconsin. Specifically, the court found it was illegal for state officials to interfere with the work of U.S. Marshals enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act or to order the release of federal prisoners held for violation of that Act. The Supreme Court reasoned that because the Supremacy Clause established federal law as the law of the land, the Wisconsin courts could not nullify the judgments of a federal court. The Supreme Court held that under Article III of the Constitution, the federal courts have the final jurisdiction in all cases involving the Constitution and laws of the United States, and that the states therefore cannot interfere with federal court judgments.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supremacy_Clause

A.C., Fri, 10/23/2015 - 16:57

You got this going on, next thing you know, Molly will be obligated to marry people to livestock; all in front of the salt of the earth folks of Irion County, the last bastion of Light in this dismal abyss of capitulating cesspool of a state.

While we're making a stand on Obergerfell-into-the-devil's-lair, we ought to go ahead and look into tugging back Loving v. Virginia, and Brown v Board Education. Let's take back this country and "make America great again". Remember the good ol' days, folks? I for one caint wait to blare some 'Sweet Home Alabami' and fly my stars and bars without a wonder to the origins of a person on MY side of town.

What's that you say, all men created equal? Typical liberal pushing that leftist ideology. Move along, sissy.

Good story Mr. Hyde , I was wondering if this matter had been resolved. If this thing gets bigger I'm going to buy a food cart and sell holy hot dogs and blessed burritos outside of the irion county jailhouse . All the news media will be there , CNN , HLN , MSNBC , and of course those mealy mouths from FOX FAKE NEWS , along with dozens of other news stations . This is going to be big ! I'm also going to be hawking bibles signed by Warren Jeffs himself . Warren is totally against same sex marriage , " marry females , especially little ones " . Maybe pictures of the governor carrying a cross and a sword , he might show up , who knows , he has a lot of taxpayer money to spend .

Wow , what a windfall ! I am not only going to sell holy hot dogs and blessed burritos , but also stones for killing sinners . All this time i'v been paying people to haul off all of the rocks that grow in my yard . My wife now knows who the boss is , I think i'll put her in the yard to gather the rocks . She had better not complain or else ! Thank you republican women ,for voting for male domination and setting things straight .

Molly has a constitutional right to believe anything she wishes to believe. She does not have a constitutional right to be Irion County Clerk. If she wishes to follow her conscience, she should take the correct ethical and legal path and resign her office instead of violating her oath of office, in which she pledged to follow the law. You do not have a constitutional right to obey only the laws you agree with.

live, Wed, 10/28/2015 - 09:33

The Supremacy Clause applies to Colorado's weed legalization, right? So why isn't Obama arresting all the drug dealers running $billion dollar manufacturing plants and distribution networks? Last time I looked, the federal register outlawed marijuana in conflict with Colorado's laws.

As for the rest, it involves sex. Somehow I knew you'd be on the side wanting more of it.

If we have to explain it to you , you need to start another career . As my favorite actor would say " where is all the fornication going on I want to get me some too .

Where does it mention in the article that President Obama is refusing to issue marriage certificates to same-sex couples?

A.C., Wed, 10/28/2015 - 12:26

I guess at least Mr. Hyde doesn't hide behind a pseudonym, but going after readers of his publication, come on, man. You get your say in the lead of your emails and whatever you publish.

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