The maneuvering has begun - Judge Moore’s idiocy has put officials in a catch 22 - if they issue licenses to SSM couples then they are ignoring an order from their highest state judicial authority. If they don’t issue licenses to just SSM couples, then they are clearly violating the equal protection clause of the constitution and violating civil rights, as noted in the following graphic from Americans United:

Americans United Alabama SSM Ad

So it makes complete sense for them to force the issue to conclusion by refusing to issue any licenses at all. This will be resolved quickly, because right now nobody in most Alabama counties can get married. In other words at some point it becomes time to start firing probate judges who refuse to do their job.

On the day that same-sex unions became legal in Alabama, local officials in dozens of counties on Monday defied a federal judge’s decision and refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, casting the state into judicial chaos.

Gay couples were able to get licenses in about a dozen places, including Birmingham, Huntsville and a few other counties where probate judges complied with the judge’s decision. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled early Monday that it would deny Alabama’s request to put the marriages on hold.

But in the majority of counties, officials said they would refuse to license same-sex marriages or stop providing licenses altogether, confronting couples — gay and heterosexual — with locked doors and shuttered windows.

More: Judicial Defiance in Alabama: Same-Sex Marriages Begin, but Most Counties Refuse