U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves said that the recusals on religious grounds granted by the state's so-called "Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act", or House Bill 1523, violated the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 2015 ruling legalizing gay marriage.
The Supreme Court's decision is commonly referred to as the "Obergefell" case after lead plaintiff James Obergefell.
"Mississippi's elected officials may disagree with Obergefell, of course, and may express that disagreement as they see fit - by advocating for a constitutional amendment to overturn the decision, for example," Reeves wrote in his 16-page ruling, which came in response to a lawsuit filed by the Campaign for Southern Equality.