UPDATE: A federal judge sent Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis to jail after ruling that she was in contempt of court. Judge David L. Bunning said that Davis will remain in jail until she tells her staff to begin issuing marriage licenses again. Although the lawyers suing Davis asked the judge to use fines rather than jail to compel her to follow the court order, Judge Bunning ultimately decided that a fine would not be sufficient to do so. Judge Bunning also warned that allowing Davis to disobey the court order could create a “ripple effect” allowing other officials to refuse to follow orders on religious grounds.
“I pay your salary, I’m paying for you to discriminate against me right now. That’s what i’m paying for.”
That’s what an exasperated David Moore had to say to a Kentucky clerk, after she again refused to issue him and his partner David Ermold a marriage license Tuesday morning–this time in violation of a judge’s order.
Rowan County clerk Kim Davis’ emergency request to deny marriage licenses on the basis of her religious beliefs was rejected without comment Monday by the Supreme Court. Davis, who is an Apostolic Christian, has said that issuing marriage licenses to gay couples would be in violation of her conscious, and is what she calls a “heaven and hell decision.”
Davis stopped issuing marriage licenses all together in her county just days after the Supreme Court’s landmark marriage equality ruling determined gay couples had the legal right to wed. Her reason for denying all couples licenses was that she didn’t want to discriminate.
Shortly after, two gay couples and two straight couples sued her, arguing that as an elected official the government required her to issue licenses despite her religious beliefs. But even after a federal judge, an appeals court, and her governor ordered her to begin issuing licenses, Davis continued to deny eligible couples. Instead she retaliated, filing her own suit against Governor Steve Beshear [D] claiming that he violated her rights by instructing her to do her job.
At the court house Tuesday, when Davis repeatedly announced that her office would continue to forgo issuing all marriage licenses despite the Supreme Court’s ruling, Moore and Ermold asked “under whose authority?” “Under God’s authority,” she replied.
According to CNN, other clerks in the state have expressed concern over issuing same-sex couples marriage licenses, but Davis is the only one turning away eligible couples. However, in Alabama 13 of 67 counties have stopped issuing marriage licenses altogether.
Now for most people, repeatedly refusing to do your job would get you fired, but sadly Davis is somewhat protected as an elected official. The Kentucky state legislature could decide to impeach her, but they are currently not in session and many politicians in her conservative state share her sentiments. And yet despite the threat of hefty fines and even potential jail time she still refuses to resign.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a motion in federal court to hold her in contempt of court for continuing to act in resistance to the Supreme Court’s ruling. Rather than seeking incarceration, the ACLU said that they have urged the court to impose financial penalties that are “sufficiently serious” to compel her immediate compliance. But if her track record is any indication of how she’ll act moving forward, there’s little that can be done to stop her agenda.
Some have asked why the couples being turned away by Davis don’t just go to another county to get a license. To that, April Miller, who was denied a marriage license with her partner Karen Roberts for a third time Tuesday in Rowan County said, “it would set a dangerous precedent to let it go.” She continued saying,
I respect her for standing up for what she believes in — I know that’s hard to do, because we’re doing that, too. I’m just sorry that she’s interjecting her personal beliefs above her government job duties.
Davis has been ordered to appear before a judge at 11 am on Thursday to determine if she is in fact in contempt of court. Till then, couples in Rowan County hoping to get hitched may have to put all plans for nuptials on hold.
Kevin Rizzo contributed to this story.