UPDATE: Federal Judge David Bunning has ordered Clerk Kim Davis to jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples
Attorneys for plaintiffs seeking to get a marriage license in her county in Kentucky had just asked for a fine because she continues to be paid for duties she doesn’t perform.
“The court cannot condone the willful disobedience of its lawfully issued order,” Judge Bunning said. “If you give people the opportunity to choose which orders they follow, that’s what potentially causes problems.”
Judge Bunning said Ms. Davis would be released once she agreed to comply with his order and issue the marriage licenses.
A boisterous crowd gathered outside the courthouse for the day’s hearing, with some of the putative Christians displaying signs such as the one shown at right, taken from Twitter photos.
From earlier today:
The truth has begun to emerge about how ugly Davis is. The county attorney where Kim Davis is refusing to issue Kentucky marriage licenses reveals the truth:
Rowan County Attorney Cecil Watkins expressed exasperation with Kim Davis, the anti-gay clerk who has refused to issue marriage licenses due to her objections to marriage equality. Davis, Watkins said, “does not represent” the county or its values, and he added that he told Davis that he “will not and cannot support” her in her refusal to obey the Constitution.
Perhaps most significantly, Watkins also says that he learned that Davis’s deputy clerks would issue marriage licenses to all couples legally entitled to one, but that they are too afraid of Davis to do so. If Judge David Bunning, the federal judge who is expected to hold Davis in contempt after a hearing Thursday morning, orders Davis’s deputies to issue marriage licenses, Watkins says, the deputies will comply.
See, Kim Davis and Mike Huckabee (who’s loudly proclaimed his support of her) want you to believe this is about matters of individual religious faith. It is not. It is about them cramming THEIR religion down the throats of unwilling others, U.S. Supreme Court be damned.
The reporting is drawn from an account by Kentucky Trial Court Review.
In an editorial note accompanying its reporting, the Trial Court Review paints a grim picture of life in the Rowan County courthouse after Davis began a symbol of anti-gay defiance. “The takeaways from the Watkins interview are clear. Davis is acting alone in her zealous mission. Her conduct has terrorized not just her staff but everyone that works in the courthouse. And all for a foolish mission aided by out of state charlatan lawyers trying to raise money for their ‘religious liberty’ mission.”
UPDATE: Republicans candidates are rushing to moan about the conservative judge’s decision (He’s a George W. Bush appointee, son of a former Kentucky Republican senator). He has “criminalized Christianity” the utterly dishonest Mike Huckabee has uttered. No, he’s criminalized disobeying the law. Huckabee says he will go to Kentucky and stand with Kim Davis, not in jail, unfortunately. And he’s started a petition. An appeal to disobedience and fringe religion is a wedge back to relevancy for the Huckster? We’ll see.
UPDATE II: As the federal court hearing continues in Kentucky, at least three deputy clerks under Davis say THEY will issue marriage licenses. See. Davis was imposing her religion on them. That isn’t constitutional, Bro. Huckabee.
UPDATE II: They’ll all do it. Except for Kim Davis’ son.
UPDATE II: Kim Davis rejects a proposal to let her employees issue licenses even if willing.
Get it? Her religion is law in her county of Kentucky.