Rep. Rick Womick has written a letter to all 95 county clerks in Tennessee, urging each of them "to ignore the recent Supreme Court of the U.S. opinion redefining marriage, to uphold their oath to our State Constitution and state law, and encouraging them to issue marriage licenses to one man and one woman only."
Rep. Womick said, "Each of Tennessee's County Clerks are publicly elected servants of their county. They are held accountable only to the people that elected them and to their oath of office, not to the SCOTUS, Governor Haslam, or Attorney General Herbert Slatery III.
"Tennessee's 95 clerks, should they choose to ignore the opinion of the 5 SCOTUS justices, will not be in violation of any federal law. As most Americans and Tennesseans understand and recognize, the SCOTUS 5-4 split decision in Obergefell v.
Hodges, issued an opinion with no basis in the Constitution, the 14th Amendment, American law, or 2000 years of Western history, purporting to overturn Natural Marriage.
"Additionally, the Supreme Court decision did not declare marriage between one man and one woman unconstitutional. Rather, these five justices "legislated from the bench," a false "right" or "unconstitutional law" to same sex marriage, a power they do not possess under the U.S. Constitution and one which only belongs only to the legislative branches of the federal government or state governments.
"Therefore, since Governor Haslam and AG Slatery have refused to uphold the integrity of our State Constitution, have failed to defend our state sovereignty as guaranteed by the 9th and 10th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, and have instead chosen to support the illegitimacy of same sex marriage, I am calling upon all Tennessee County Clerks to ignore the judicial tyranny of the five self serving SCOTUS justices. It is time for all elected officials to listen to the people who elected us and to uphold the rule of law in Tennessee!
"Finally, I encourage Governor Haslam to stop playing politics with the lives of Tennessee soldiers and allow them to carry their personal firearms while in uniform and while on state controlled installations. The Governor found it convenient to immediately support homosexual marriage, he should show that same enthusiasm and leadership in support of our soldiers!"