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Ky. clerk asks high court to intervene in marriage case
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James Yates and William Smith Jr. attempted to obtain a marriage license in Rowan County for the third time on Thursday. Michael Wynn, The C-J
MOREHEAD, Ky. — A Kentucky county clerk asked the U.S. Supreme Court for permission Friday to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis is seeking "asylum for her conscience," her lawyers with the Orlando-based law firm Liberty Counsel wrote in their emergency application to stay enforcement of a federal court ruling requiring the county to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.
Davis already has lost a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Covington, Ky., after Judge David Bunning ruled that her religious convictions do not excuse her from performing official duties and upholding her oath of office. She has refused to issue licenses to all couples since the June Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage, and on Wednesday the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals declined to stay Bunning's injunction against Davis.
Justice Elena Kagan, who joined the 5-4 majority in the Supreme Court same-sex marriage case, will hear Davis' request because she is assigned to Kentucky and three other states in the 6th Circuit. But law professor Sam Marcosson of the University of Louisville thinks that Davis' request will be denied, and Dan Canon, lawyer for the two gay and two straight couples who sued Davis when they were denied marriage licenses, previously said he didn't think she would be able to get a stay.
Davis' lawyer, Jonathan D. Christman, wrote that forcing Davis to issue licenses is akin to forcing a person who objects to war into the battlefield or forcing a person against capital punishment to carry out an execution. The firm considers this a first test of the rights of public officials across the USA since the same-sex marriage ruling.
On Thursday, James Yates and William Smith Jr., a couple of nearly 10 years, left the Rowan County Courthouse frustrated and angry after staff refused them a marriage license for a third time in recent weeks. The deputy clerk on duty told them that an order from Bunning staying his ruling didn't expire until Monday.
"It's just making us want to press more," Yates said. "She can't get away with this because it will open the door for so many other rights to be just thrown away."
Davis, an Apostolic Christian, has said she will not resign her $80,000-a-year job and never will issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples — even if the Supreme Court denies her request.
"If a (same-sex marriage) license is issued with Davis' name, authorization and approval, no one can unring that bell," her lawyers wrote the court. "That searing act of validation would forever echo in her conscience."
Davis cannot be fired because she is an elected official. The state Legislature could impeach her, but that is unlikely because many state lawmakers share her beliefs.
The Republican president of the state Senate spoke at a rally last week in support of Davis.
The couples like Yates and Smith that sued her could ask Bunning to hold Davis in contempt. That would trigger another court hearing and likely would include testimony from Davis herself.
The judge then could order hefty fines or even put her in jail until she complies with the order.
"They don't like gays, and they don't want them to get married," Yates said. "And they will burn the earth and not let straight people in Rowan County get married either."
Smith said Davis is blatantly breaking the law and hiding behind religion to discriminate — the last thing he expected in Rowan County, a county of about 24,000 residents halfway between Lexington, Ky., and Huntington, W.Va., which has always remained open to the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender community.
"We should be celebrating right now, enjoying our lives together and enjoying the fact that we could spend our lives together and have it recognized by our country," Smith said. "Now we are just kind of on nerves."
Yates and Smith said they will try again next week after the temporary stay expires. However, Yates said even if judges continue to rule in favor of the couples, Davis and her lawyers will find ways to stall.
"They are ignoring this ruling," he said. "Why would they follow the next one?"
The gay marriage decision "neither overruled the First Amendment or other critical religious liberty protections for persons nor compelled states to accomplish recognition" of same-sex marriage "by invading and trampling upon the conscience of individual county clerks or other public employees" Davis' lawyers said.
Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, said a settlement has been proposed in a related suit against Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, which could resolve the issue. The group wants Beshear to remove clerks' names from marriage licenses through an executive order, but nothing has been finalized.
"That would be an easy fix for him to do," Staver said.
A small group has protested Davis' policy outside the Rowan County Courthouse daily, and demonstrators say they are planning a large rally Saturday on the courthouse lawn.
Rachelle Bombe, one of the protesters, predicted that Davis "will not stop. She is the terminator."
"A lot to people are being hurt," Bombe said. "There are so many wonderful couples that want to be married, and they can't get married. And some of them have waited an entire lifetime to get married, so it is very sad."
Two other clerks in Kentucky also are denying licenses, including Casey County Clerk Casey Davis, who announced Thursday that he is riding a bicycle across Kentucky — from Pikeville to Paducah — to show support for Kim Davis.
Casey Davis began the ride at 4:30 a.m. Thursday, according to the Family Foundation, which released the announcement.
Contributing: The Associated Press
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1EpyJOY
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Ky. clerk asks high court to intervene in marriage case
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James Yates and William Smith Jr. attempted to obtain a marriage license in Rowan County for the third time on Thursday. Michael Wynn, The C-J
William Smith Jr. received a hug Aug. 27, 2015, from supporter Sarah Anderson as he headed into the Rowan County Courthouse to get a marriage license with his partner, James Yates.(Photo: Mike Wynn, The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal)
MOREHEAD, Ky. — A Kentucky county clerk asked the U.S. Supreme Court for permission Friday to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis is seeking "asylum for her conscience," her lawyers with the Orlando-based law firm Liberty Counsel wrote in their emergency application to stay enforcement of a federal court ruling requiring the county to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.
Davis already has lost a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Covington, Ky., after Judge David Bunning ruled that her religious convictions do not excuse her from performing official duties and upholding her oath of office. She has refused to issue licenses to all couples since the June Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage, and on Wednesday the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals declined to stay Bunning's injunction against Davis.
Justice Elena Kagan, who joined the 5-4 majority in the Supreme Court same-sex marriage case, will hear Davis' request because she is assigned to Kentucky and three other states in the 6th Circuit. But law professor Sam Marcosson of the University of Louisville thinks that Davis' request will be denied, and Dan Canon, lawyer for the two gay and two straight couples who sued Davis when they were denied marriage licenses, previously said he didn't think she would be able to get a stay.
Davis' lawyer, Jonathan D. Christman, wrote that forcing Davis to issue licenses is akin to forcing a person who objects to war into the battlefield or forcing a person against capital punishment to carry out an execution. The firm considers this a first test of the rights of public officials across the USA since the same-sex marriage ruling.
On Thursday, James Yates and William Smith Jr., a couple of nearly 10 years, left the Rowan County Courthouse frustrated and angry after staff refused them a marriage license for a third time in recent weeks. The deputy clerk on duty told them that an order from Bunning staying his ruling didn't expire until Monday.
"It's just making us want to press more," Yates said. "She can't get away with this because it will open the door for so many other rights to be just thrown away."
Davis, an Apostolic Christian, has said she will not resign her $80,000-a-year job and never will issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples — even if the Supreme Court denies her request.
"If a (same-sex marriage) license is issued with Davis' name, authorization and approval, no one can unring that bell," her lawyers wrote the court. "That searing act of validation would forever echo in her conscience."
Davis cannot be fired because she is an elected official. The state Legislature could impeach her, but that is unlikely because many state lawmakers share her beliefs.
The Republican president of the state Senate spoke at a rally last week in support of Davis.
The couples like Yates and Smith that sued her could ask Bunning to hold Davis in contempt. That would trigger another court hearing and likely would include testimony from Davis herself.
The judge then could order hefty fines or even put her in jail until she complies with the order.
"They don't like gays, and they don't want them to get married," Yates said. "And they will burn the earth and not let straight people in Rowan County get married either."
Smith said Davis is blatantly breaking the law and hiding behind religion to discriminate — the last thing he expected in Rowan County, a county of about 24,000 residents halfway between Lexington, Ky., and Huntington, W.Va., which has always remained open to the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender community.
"We should be celebrating right now, enjoying our lives together and enjoying the fact that we could spend our lives together and have it recognized by our country," Smith said. "Now we are just kind of on nerves."
Yates and Smith said they will try again next week after the temporary stay expires. However, Yates said even if judges continue to rule in favor of the couples, Davis and her lawyers will find ways to stall.
"They are ignoring this ruling," he said. "Why would they follow the next one?"
The gay marriage decision "neither overruled the First Amendment or other critical religious liberty protections for persons nor compelled states to accomplish recognition" of same-sex marriage "by invading and trampling upon the conscience of individual county clerks or other public employees" Davis' lawyers said.
Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, said a settlement has been proposed in a related suit against Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, which could resolve the issue. The group wants Beshear to remove clerks' names from marriage licenses through an executive order, but nothing has been finalized.
"That would be an easy fix for him to do," Staver said.
A small group has protested Davis' policy outside the Rowan County Courthouse daily, and demonstrators say they are planning a large rally Saturday on the courthouse lawn.
Rachelle Bombe, one of the protesters, predicted that Davis "will not stop. She is the terminator."
"A lot to people are being hurt," Bombe said. "There are so many wonderful couples that want to be married, and they can't get married. And some of them have waited an entire lifetime to get married, so it is very sad."
Two other clerks in Kentucky also are denying licenses, including Casey County Clerk Casey Davis, who announced Thursday that he is riding a bicycle across Kentucky — from Pikeville to Paducah — to show support for Kim Davis.
Casey Davis began the ride at 4:30 a.m. Thursday, according to the Family Foundation, which released the announcement.
Contributing: The Associated Press
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1EpyJOY
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Strict Standards: Non-static method modFlexiCustomCode::parsePHPviaFile() should not be called statically in /home/noahjames7/public_html/modules/mod_flexi_customcode/tmpl/default.php on line 54
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