Davis won’t interfere with deputy clerks issuing marriage licenses

Published 8:45 am Monday, September 14, 2015

MOREHEAD, Ky — Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis bowed to a federal court Monday morning – sort of. She said she will not allow her name to appear on marriage licenses issued by her deputies, but she also will not stop them from issuing licenses.

Instead, Davis said, the licenses will contain a line that says they are issued “under the order of the federal court.”

Davis likely risked being returned to jail had she refused to allow the marriage licenses to be issued. She spent six days behind bars before Federal Judge David Bunning, who put her there for contempt of court, released her last Tuesday.

But he warned Davis not to interfere with the issuing of licenses by her deputy clerks and indicated she would face further unspecified sanctions if she did so.

Davis read a long statement to reporters about 15 minutes before her office opened Monday morning, saying she could not violate her conscience by authorizing licenses to same-sex couples and calling on Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear and the Kentucky General Assembly to re-write the state’s marriage laws to remove clerks’ signatures or authorization from the documents.

She noted that Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, says the state’s marriage laws “have been shredded” by the Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriages. Davis said she loves her deputies, God and her job, but finds herself in an untenable position because of Bunning’s order forcing her to choose between obeying her beliefs or the law.

But she made clear she will not do anything which, in her mind, disobeys the laws of God. Deputy Clerk Brian Mason said he will continue to issue licenses but had not seen the new form that indicates it is issued under the authority of the federal court order.

He said he’d spoken “just in passing” with Davis. When told she’d told reporters she loves her deputies, Mason said, “We love her, too.”

Davis is one of three Kentucky clerks who have refused to issue marriage licenses in the aftermath of the Supreme Court ruling. She was sued by the ACLU of Kentucky on behalf of two straight and two married couples who were denied licenses.

Bunning ordered her to issue the licenses and when she refused, he held her in contempt and jailed her. Five of her deputy clerks, however, agreed to issue the licenses and the couples who sued Davis and others have since received licenses through Davis’ office.

Last Tuesday, after confirming licenses were being issued by Davis’ deputies, Bunning released her but warned her not to interfere with her deputies issuing licenses.  She announced she would take time to spend with her family and would return to work on Monday morning.

Several Davis supporters gathered outside the courthouse Monday morning holding signs decrying the federal courts, proclaiming homosexuality a sin and claiming Christians are under assault for their beliefs.

RONNIE ELLIS writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. Reach him at rellis@cnhi.com. Follow CNHI News Service stories on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cnhifrankfort.