Wisconsin AG Warns Clerks Issuing Gay Marriage Licenses Could Be Prosecuted

Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen warned Thursday that county clerks issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in the state could be prosecuted.

"You do have many people in Wisconsin basically taking the law into their own hands and there can be legal repercussions for that," Van Hollen said, as quoted by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "So, depending on who believes they're married under the law and who doesn't believe they're married under the law may cause them to get themselves in some legal problems that I think are going to take years for them and the courts to work out."

Van Hollen added that the clerks were risking prosecution even though he didn't think the same applied to same-sex couples.

"That's going to be up to district attorneys, not me," Van Hallen said, according to the newspaper. "There are penalties within our marriage code, within our statutes, and hopefully they're acting with full awareness of what's contained therein."


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