'We cannot give up now,' Liberty Counsel says on fighting same-sex marriage

ORLANDO (Christian Examiner) – Urging Americans to stay in the fight to preserve the will of the people, Liberty Counsel's Mat Staver announced Friday the organization has filed three briefs in hopes of halting clerks in Osceola, Orange and Manatee counties from "ignoring the rule of law."

"We cannot give it up now amidst this battle over same-sex marriage," said Staver, founder and chairman of the Orlando-based non-profit organization, in an April 10 news release.

Florida clerks in three counties have thwarted the will of the people by openly ignoring the "rule of law" in handing out licenses for same-sex marriages, Staver said.

Clerks who have issued same-sex licenses under these conditions have violated the Constitution of Florida, the laws of Florida and the "clearly expressed will of the people," Liberty Counsel said in its news release.

"Florida laws could not be more clear," according to the Liberty Counsel brief which points out that a ruling by U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle in Brenner vs. Scott last year which took effect in January did not authorize the clerks to disregard their duties.

"The Clerk has a duty not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples," Liberty Counsel wrote in the briefs. "The Florida public and the rule of law are being injured by the Clerk's open disregard of her public duties."

Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, urged Americans to endure in what he described in military terms as a historic battle.

"We are in a constitutional crisis in America. Government officials from county clerks to the President of the United States are ignoring the rule of law and arrogantly creating their own laws," Staver said.

"Legislators make laws, not judges, not Presidents," Staver continued. "Americans fought the Revolutionary War to win the right of a representative form of governance."