Alabama marriage: An Alabama federal judge on Thursday ordered a county probate judge to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, The National Law Journal's Marcia Coyle reports. U.S. District Judge Callie Granade's January ruling striking down the state's gay marriage ban was set to take effect on Monday, but an order from Chief Justice Roy Moore of the state Supreme Court barring probate judges from issuing licenses to same-sex couples caused statewide confusion.

State of sobriety: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Thursday offered some insight into why she appeared to doze off at the State of the Union in January: blame the California wine she'd shared earlier with Justice Anthony Kennedy. “The audience for the most part is awake because they are bobbing up and down and we sit there, stone faced,” Ginsburg said, according to CNN. “But we're not, at least I was not, 100% sober.” Ginsburg said: “I vowed this year—just sparkling water, stay away from the wine. But the dinner was so delicious it needed wine.”

Breaking down the budget: The Marshall Project explored the U.S. Department of Justice's spending over the past 50 years.