Charelle Loder, a U.S. citizen, and “Jack Doe,” an undocumented immigrant from Haiti, had been a couple for five years. When they decided to marry, they could not obtain a marriage license from the Montgomery County Probate Office in Alabama because it denied licenses to couples unable to prove both partners have legal immigration status. The policy was not required by any federal or state law.
The SPLC filed a federal lawsuit challenging the policy and seeking class-action status to represent couples across the state who would be denied marriage licenses. Forty-one of Alabama’s 67 counties enforced such a policy at the time the suit was filed.