More Alabama counties allow same-sex marriage amid "judicial chaos"

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- More Alabama counties are allowing same-sex marriage despite objections from the state's chief justice.

Probate officials in three counties said Tuesday they'll begin issuing marriage licenses after receiving legal clarification.

Many counties wouldn't issue licenses Monday after Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore ordered probate judges not to allow same-sex licenses.

Moore gave his order even though a federal court struck down the state's ban on gay marriage, and the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the state's attempt to overturn the order.

In a handful of other counties, hundreds of gay couples did get marriage licenses on Monday.

CBS News correspondent Chip Reid reports that the situation in Alabama is being described as "judicial chaos" and Moore is behind the push to make sure same-sex marriage doesn't happen.

"It's about the institution of marriage and when that institution is destroyed, it's the basic building block for our society," Moore told Reid. "I issued this ruling because of my duty to the Constitution and laws of Alabama but also because I believe that the redefinition of marriage is not within the federal government."

Justice Clarence Thomas complained Monday that the Supreme Court is inappropriately signaling it intends to clear the way for gay marriage across the nation.

Bitterly objecting to Monday's action, Thomas provided a rare insider's perspective on the widely held view that the court's embrace of gay marriage is a done deal.

Thomas filed a dissenting opinion after his colleagues rejected Alabama's plea to put a hold on same-sex marriages in the state until the Supreme Court resolves the issue nationwide in a few months.

He criticized his fellow justices for looking "the other way as yet another federal district judge casts aside state laws," rather than following the customary course of leaving those laws in place until the court answers an important constitutional question.