Kim Davis clearly doesn't understand her own job.
As Rowan county clerk, Davis is required to determine if marriage applicants meet the requirements to receive a civil marriage license, and if so, attest to the applicants' legal ability to enter into a marriage contract. Her signature on a marriage form does not indicate that she agrees with current public policy, nor does it convey approval. The government has already given "permission" for same-sex couples to marry (in spite of what cafeteria Christians believe their god wants). Davis' role is just an administrative function. She is simply required to provide and process the marriage application and contract, while serving the public in a fair and nondiscriminatory manner. That's where she has failed.
Davis may have a simple comprehension problem. She has decided that her personal religious beliefs are relevant to her role as County Clerk. That is simply incorrect. Holy matrimony and civil marriage are two completely different things. Given that she is thrice divorced and remarried, her understanding of biblical scripture seems faulty as well. But we don't have to stay in the trenches validating her erroneous beliefs. This is an opportunity to bring the discussion back to the reality of public policy and government functions.
The GOP is desperately using nonsense issues like this for fundraising, distraction and misdirection. By refusing to do her job, Davis (and her nefarious backers) have handed progressives an opportunity to take a bite out of First Amendment challenges to public policy.
Quick background for those not following this issue: After the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in June, Ms. Davis stopped issuing all marriage licenses. When the governor of Kentucky told county clerks to issue marriage licenses to all eligible couples, Ms. Davis filed suit in federal court, arguing that she should be excused from the obligation, given her religious beliefs. A District Court judge ruled against her, as well as the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Yesterday, the stay granted by the District Court expired, and the Supreme Court rejected without comment Ms. Davis’s emergency application for a new stay (pending the outcome of her appeal.) Davis hasissued a statement refusing to resign or concede her position, and the Federal judge has ordered Davis and her staff to appear in court on Thursday. As an elected official, Davis can't be fired. She can be impeached, but not until the Legislature's regular session next year or by a costly special session.
Davis, left with no legal grounds to refuse to grant licenses to same-sex couples, decided to continue along the path of martyrdom today. After she refused again to do her job, the ACLU filed a contempt of court motion. The plaintiffs are graciously asking only for financial penalties "sufficiently serious and increasingly onerous to compel Davis’ immediate compliance without further delay." They are NOT seeking incarceration.
Two good things about this case:
1) Financial penalties make it harder for Davis to become the next up and coming martyr. If she's smart, she'll just quit her job and hope for NOM or Faux News to send some attention and cash her way. Her job pays big bucks ($80k/yr), but in the long run, there's no real advantage for her to continue this charade. I'm curious if the public can pursue remedies other than impeachment, for instance, leave without pay.
2) The sooner we get these silly holdouts removed from office and public attention, the sooner we can get on to the business of major policy failures promoted by both the Republicans and our elected Democrats in Congress. This ongoing anti-gay stuff is used as a distraction from those real discussions we need to be having, especially with our presidential candidates. Bernie Sanders is talking about stopping billionaires from legally bribing members of Congress, while Republican candidates are still saying "Look over there, the gays are gonna get your children!"
It's time to shut these distractions down. We start by eliminating public servants who refuse to comply with the law based on the erroneous premise that their religious beliefs are relevant to their public service work, and that the First Amendment protects them from recourse when they don't do their jobs.
The salient part of the SCOTUS denial of stay is that Justice Kagan sent it to the entire court. NONE of the right wing justices were interested in taking it up and continuing this discussion. They already lost, and they are clearly unwilling to repeat the fiasco with ongoing challenges to the Obergefell v. Hodges decision. They have ruled and they just sent a strong message that it's time to move on.
Because SCOTUS doesn't want to continue the marriage equality discussion, this case is a perfect First Amendment challenge where progressives will win big. We have had to deal with this separation of church and state issue repeatedly. Pharmacists have refused to fill prescriptions for birth control based on their religious beliefs. Companies have refused to pay for health care services they disagree with on religious grounds. We had to force Alabama supreme court justice Roy Moore, an anti-gay bigot himself, to remove religious symbols from the judicial building. All of this behavior is due to the opinion that a person's religious beliefs can be forced on others, which is actually a violation of the First Amendment.
With Davis' denial of marriage licenses we have the opportunity to reinforce that a public official's oath of office is a priority over their current interpretation of a bible. We need to say loud and clear that when a public servant decides that their religious beliefs conflict with their oath to the Constitution or our laws, that person needs to resolve the conflict and perform their public duties or resign from their job.
This is our chance to establish that expectation and enforce a solid separation of church and state.