Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis is still defying the Supreme Court Marriage Equality ruling and is still refusing to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples.
Davis is also appealing an order by District Judge David L. Bunning that she must comply with Federal law and issue the marriage licenses.
Follow below the fold for more.
On or around August 12th, Federal District Judge issued a ruling against Davis and ordered her to comply with Federal law and begin issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples.
Davis then indicated she will appeal this decision.
District Judge Bunning then later decided to temporarily stay his ruling to allow Davis time to file her petition.
From the LA Times.
On Tuesday, Bunning said he would delay his ruling to grant Davis time to file her petition. "Realizing that emotions are running high on both sides of the debate, the court finds it appropriate to temporarily stay this order," he said in his order.
But Bunning also said:
Davis' religious convictions cannot excuse her from performing the duties she took an oath to perform, Bunning said in his order. "While Davis is correct in stating that a violation of free exercise rights would constitute irreparable harm, she has failed to show that she is likely to suffer a violation of her free exercise rights in the first place," he wrote.
Judge Bunning’s second statement is spot on but let’s be clear forcing her to comply with Federal law in the performance of her duties is most assuredly not a violation of her free exercise rights!
Though I applaud District Judge Bunning’s decision to order her to issue marriage licenses in compliance with Federal law, I completely disagree with an even temporary stay. There is no way Kim Davis can win this appeal!
The law is quite clear that the 1st amendment cannot be used as justification by public officials to get out of following the law and doing their job!
Many jurisdictions were not happy with the Supreme Court's legalization of same-sex marriage. In the South, some counties are still trying to block gay marriage by, like Davis, refusing to issue marriage licenses to anyone.
And this is exactly the kind of thing that can happen when you give bigots even an inch, even when it is just a temporary stay. It empowers other bigots to try the same shit!
The encouraging news is that District Judge Bunning’s temporary stay is set to expire on August 31st.
A federal judge on Wednesday set an Aug. 31 deadline for his delay in ordering Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis to resume issuing marriage licenses.
Unless the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals acts on Davis' appeal by then, his temporary stay will expire and a preliminary junction he issued earlier, ordering Davis to issue marriage licenses, will take effect, U.S. District Judge David Bunning wrote.
Hopefully the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals will decide correctly and refuse to hear the case.
Ultimately I see a very good possibility of Jail time in Kim Davis’s near future because I don’t think this bigot is going to back down before it comes to that!