A federal judge in Mobile on Thursday ordered Mobile County Probate Judge Don Davis to start granting marriage licenses to gay couples, and he immediately took steps to do just that. 
 
 The ruling came shortly after U.S. District Judge Callie V.S. "Ginny" Granade heard from lawyers of gay couples who had not been able to get marriage licenses in Mobile this week. 
 
 Granade laid out specific reasons why the plaintiffs want to get married, including health problems by Mobile resident James Strawser, who wants his partner, John Humphrey, to have full spousal authority to make medical decisions should he become incapacitated. 
 
 "Plaintiffs' inability to exercise their fundamental right to marry has caused them irreparable harm that outweighs any injury to defendant," the judge wrote. "Moreover, the Plaintiffs in this case have submitted declarations attesting to the specific reasons why their inability to become legally married in Alabama presents a substantial threat of irreparable injury." 
 
 Read the order here 
 
 Davis had kept the marriage license office closed since Monday, when Granade's ruling striking down the state's ban on same-sex marriage was to go into effect. He is one of dozens of probate judges who cited Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore's administrative order on Sunday instructing probate judges not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. 
 
 Attorneys for the plaintiffs asked for an order that applies broadly -- not just to the one official named in a lawsuit. 
 
 A lawyer for Davis said his client was not taking a position, only looking for guidance. He depicted Davis as a hapless official trapped between two courts. 
 
 Granade, who started three weeks of legal wrangling with her ruling last month striking down Alabama's ban on same-sex marriage, did not immediately indicate how or when she would rule. But she issued the written order within the hour. 
 
 The lawyers for the plaintiffs asked Granade to compel Davis to comply with her constitutional ruling and to specifically declare that Moore's order, in the words of lawyer Randall Marshall, "has no validity." Granade's decision made not comment on Moore's order. 
 
 Mike Druhan, a lawyer for Davis, compared the probate judge's position to that of a Vietnam War soldier. 
 
 "I think Judge Davis is like a rifleman in a rice paddy in Vietnam who steps on a mine," said Druhan, adding that the soldier would be shot by a sniper if he stays and blown to bits by the mine if he moves. "He has expressed no opinion, none of the characterizations that have been made." 
 
 Druhan told the judge that if she issues an order, Davis will review it and take the "appropriate" action. Asked outside the courtroom if there as a conceivable scenario under which Davis would not obey a federal court order, Druhan said, "I don't know that he's made a decision." 
 
 Druahan also had no comment about whether the Supremacy Clause makes it clear that federal courts win when there is a conflict with a state court. "I personally have not researched that." 
 
 David Kennedy, an attorney for some of the plaintiffs, said outside the courtroom that he found that position "troubling," but added that based on his experience practicing in front of Davis that the probate judge would comply with a federal order. 
 
 Less clear is whether other probate judges, who are not defendants in either case considered Thursday, will alter their position in the face of Granade's new ruling. Marshall, the legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, said he believes most probate judges will take their cues from Granade's new order. For those who continue to resist, he said, same-sex marriage advocates will file new lawsuits naming them as defendants. 
 
 Failing to comply will open them to contempt charges, fines and legal fees, Marshall said. 
 
 In the courtroom, Marshall conceded one point that opponents of Granade's ruling have been making for weeks -- it does not technically constitute an order to non-parties. But he added that it no way lessens the impact of the Granade's decision -- the ban on same-sex marriage no longer has the force of law. 
 
 That has been the case since a federal appeals court in Atlanta and the U.S. Supreme Court both declined to put Granade's ruling on hold, Marshall said. 
 
 "It's not the order (that compels probate judges to issue licenses)," he said. "It's the U.S. Constitution, itself." 
 
 Marshall also challenged the notion that Moore was acting in his capacity as the judicial system's chief administrator when he ordered probate judges not to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. 
 
 It was "anything but an administrative order," he said. "That's a judicial order about what the law is, and it has nothing to do with the administration of the courts. ... In short, there really is no conflict between state and federal law on this point." 
 
 {Probate judges say they'll abide by law} 
 
 Updated at 3:35 p.m. to include Granade's ruling. Updated at 3:52 p.m. to include more information about the order. Updated at 4:22 p.m. to include a copy of the order. ||||| MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — The federal judge who overturned Alabama's gay marriage ban ordered a reluctant county to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, signaling to probate judges across the state that they should do the same. 
 
 Milton Persinger, left, and Robert Povilat wait for a marriage license at the Mobile County Probate office, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2015, in Mobile, Ala. A federal judge set a hearing to consider a request... (Associated Press) 
 
 John Humphrey, left, and James Strawser wait for a marriage license along with several other gay couples at the Mobile County Probate office in Mobile, Ala., on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2015. A federal judge's... (Associated Press) 
 
 About an hour after U.S. District Judge Callie Granade's ruling, Mobile County opened up its marriage license office and started granting the documents to gay couples. Gay rights advocates said they hoped Granade's order would smooth an uneven legal landscape where gay couples have been able to marry in some Alabama counties and not in others. However, it wasn't immediately clear what other judges would do. 
 
 At least 23 of Alabama's 67 counties are issuing marriage licenses to gay couples. 
 
 Robert Povilat and his partner Milton Persinger were the first to get a marriage license in Mobile County. They wore camellia boutonnieres for good luck and exchanged vows in the atrium of the probate office. 
 
 "Ecstatic. Ecstatic. We're married," Povilat said. 
 
 Randall Marshall, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, said he thought the ruling would give guidance to other probate judges and his group was ready to litigate the case county by county, if necessary. 
 
 "We hope other probate judges will look at this and see they too could soon be a defendant in a lawsuit if they don't start treating everybody equally," Marshall said. 
 
 Mobile and other counties had refused to issue the marriage licenses after Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore told probate judges on Sunday they didn't have to because they were not defendants in the original case. 
 
 Moore has argued that Granade's Jan. 23 ruling striking down the Bible Belt state's gay-marriage ban was an illegal intrusion on Alabama's sovereignty. 
 
 Moore made a name for himself by fighting to keep a Ten Commandments at a courthouse, refusing to remove it even though a federal judge ordered him to. His resistance cost him his job, but he won re-election as chief justice in 2012. 
 
 Moore was not at the brief hearing Granade held Thursday. However, he was often the subject of the discussion. 
 
 Marshall called Moore's directive, sent hours before courthouses opened Monday, a "ploy" to stop gay marriage in Alabama. A telephone message left with Moore's office was not immediately returned Thursday. 
 
 Michael Druhan, an attorney for Mobile County Probate Judge Don Davis, said Davis closed marriage license operations altogether this week — even for heterosexual couples — rather than navigate what seemed like a legal minefield of conflicting directives. 
 
 "If you stand still, you might get shot. If you move, you might blow up," Druhan said outside court. ||||| A federal judge on Thursday ruled that an Alabama county official couldn’t refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, providing clarity to other officials around the state struggling to make sense of conflicting state and federal court orders. 
 
 U.S. District Judge Callie Granade ordered Probate Judge Don Davis in Mobile County to comply with her previous ruling finding the state’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional....
– It looks like supporters of gay marriage can celebrate again in Alabama. The state has been stuck between two rulings on same-sex marriage—a federal judge said yes-you-can, and a state judge said oh-no-you-can't—and the confusion caused Mobile County Probate Judge Don Davis to put everything on hold this week and seek legal clarity. This evening, the federal judge provided it—at least in Mobile County, reports the Wall Street Journal. US District Judge Callie Granade ordered Davis to comply with her original ruling, and the county immediately reopened its marriage license office and began issuing licenses to gay couples, reports AP. What remains unclear is whether probate judges elsewhere in the state will follow suit, reports Al.com. Prior to today, 23 of the state's 67 counties were already complying with Granade's order, while 44 were siding with Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore's view that they didn't need to do so. Moore says he's still studying today's ruling, but “I feel just like I felt earlier," he says. "This is a wrongful intrusion into the jurisdiction of the probate courts in Alabama.”