A federal judge in Mobile and the justices of the nation's highest court have overstepped their authority by addressing the constitutionality of same-sex marriage on a state level, Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore said last week on a radio show.

Moore spoke with Family Research Council President Tony Perkins for the organization's "Washington Watch" radio program, billed as "the daily voice in D.C. on issues of faith, family and freedom."

The interview took place a day after U.S. District Judge Callie V.S. "Ginny" Granade applied her ruling striking down Alabama's same-sex marriage ban to all probate judges in Alabama but delayed it from taking effect until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the issue.

Moore said the move is nothing more than judicial activism and political posturing.

"She's trying to save face," he said. "She issued the same order earlier except it didn't apply earlier... She cannot issue an order to all probate judges in the state of Alabama."

After Granade's initial order, Moore issued an order Feb. 8 instructing all probate judges and employees to follow existing state law and not issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Moore said Granade issued the immediate stay of her own order because "she knows she doesn't have the authority" in the first place.

The states that have begun allowing same-sex marriage have "bowed to unlawful federal authority" because, historically, federal courts have not determined issues of marriage and divorce on a state-by-state level, Moore said.

He said the U.S. Supreme Court has violated its own precedent by intervening in those issues now.

"If this court in 1986 were to see what they're doing today, they would say they're illegitimate and trying to rule the country without express constitutional authority," he said.

Congress should look to the U.S. Constitution - which does not give the Supreme Court the authority to redefine marriage - and intervene, he said.

Moore noted that justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan have performed same-sex marriage ceremonies.

The New York Times reported that Ginsburg, presiding over a ceremony last week, pronounced the men married "by the powers vested in her by the Constitution of the United States."

Moore said her actions violate the ethical rules set for federal judges, and Congress should take action.

"This is undermining the rule of law in our country and ushers in an age of chaos," FRC President Tony Perkins said on his radio show.

The Foundation for Moral Law, a Montgomery-based organization founded by Moore and now led by his wife Kayla, has filed a motion for Ginsburg's recusal in the same-sex marriage cases currently before the court.

"Now she's commenting on a case which is before her and under the judicial ethics of federal judges she can't do that," Moore said. "If Congress is going to let these justices disobey the Constitution they're sworn to uphold... Congress has a check and a balance, and that's impeachment."

Alabama awaits Supreme Court decision

When Granade initially found Alabama's ban unconstitutional in January, she refused to put the decision on hold.

In her order last week, Granade noted "an imminent decision" by the court in Obergefell v. Hodges, an appeal from an Ohio court. The high court heard oral arguments in that case last month, and most observers expect a ruling in June.

After Granade issued her ruling, David Dinielli, deputy legal director of the Southern Poverty Law Center, described it as decisive and definitive.

"It ends the chaos and confusion that Attorney General (Luther) Strange and Chief Justice (Roy) Moore have intentionally caused through their reckless rejection of federal constitutional principles," he said in a prepared statement.

For the immediate future, the ruling leaves same-sex couples in the same legal limbo they've been in since the Alabama Supreme Court in March ordered probate judges to follow the state's marriage law. Probate judges will not be forced to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.