Clerk hit with 'marriage' penalty asks for full court review

Kim Davis
Kim Davis

Kim Davis, who was a county clerk in Kentucky when the Supreme Court created same-sex marriage, and went to jail because the state refused her an accommodation for her biblical beliefs about marriage, still is fighting two civil lawsuits that erupted back at the time.

Same-sex duos claimed she was personally liable for damages – even though they got their licenses – and a leftist judge at the district court level who also ordered her to jail for her beliefs agreed.

But now, officials with Liberty Counsel have requested that the full Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals hear her case.

Her lawyers argue she is entitled to qualified immunity in the disputes.

Especially important are several recent Supreme Court rulings on religious rights, her legal team is explaining.

“The Ermold and Yates cases each involve a same-sex couple who sued Kim Davis in 2015 following the Supreme Court’s Obergefell decision requiring all states to recognize same-sex marriage. The district court entered judgment against Davis in both cases, holding that Davis is personally liable to the plaintiffs for violating their marriage rights by not issuing marriage licenses,” explained Liberty Counsel.

On appeal, the legal team argued the cases should have been dismissed based on Davis’ qualified immunity,

That means she would be immune from the plaintiffs’ claims as a public official who did not violate any clearly established right. The newly created same-sex marriage status, was, in fact, only days old and no precedents had yet been set in similar court fights.

“Because Davis was entitled to an accommodation of her sincerely held religious beliefs about marriage under both the First Amendment and Kentucky law, she should not be held liable to the plaintiffs for exercising her right not to violate her conscience while marriage licenses were readily available to the plaintiffs throughout Kentucky,” Liberty Counsel explained.

The three cases that have come down from the Supreme Court since then, the organization cited, included Masterpiece Cakeshop, where the justices said “official expressions of hostility to religion” violate free exercise rights.

“Then Fulton v. City of Philadelphia (2021) made it clear that government officials like Kentucky’s former Governor Steve Beshear violate free exercise rights when they deny policy exceptions for religious reasons while granting exceptions for nonreligious reasons,” Liberty Counsel said.

And in “Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, the Supreme Court explained that the government must balance competing constitutional rights—like Davis’ religious free exercise rights and the Ermold and Yates plaintiffs’ marriage rights—instead of picking constitutional winners and losers,” the organization said.

When the court ruling was handed down, then-Gov. Steve Beshear demanded that all Kentucky county clerks endorse marriage licenses for same-sex couples, with no reasonable accommodation for clerks with sincerely held religious beliefs about marriage.

Davis recused herself from issuing any licenses, although they remained generally available in the state.

But the same-sex duos demanded that they get their licenses from Davis alone.

When Gov. Matt Bevin later took office, he issued an executive order protecting Davis, and the legislature followed up shortly.

Liberty Counsel chairman Mat Staver said, “The First Amendment required then Gov. Steve Beshear to accommodate the sincere religious beliefs of Kim Davis. Had Gov. Beshear followed the law and granted Kim Davis a religious accommodation, there would be no case. As a result of Kim Davis, now every Kentucky clerk is entitled to a religious accommodation regarding marriage licenses. Kim Davis, the pioneer who spearheaded this effort, is also entitled to the same protection.”


IMPORTANT NOTE: America’s innocent young children are shockingly being subject to massive recruitment efforts by LGBT and transgender groomers in the nation’s schools. Alongside this, the rest of the deranged Biden agenda continues to unfold, from engineering an ever-growing full-scale foreign invasion of America, to destroying the nation’s fossil fuel industries while purposely creating sky-high inflation, to bringing America to the brink of nuclear war. Now, the very same political, cultural and sexual revolutionaries responsible for all of this chaos and madness have finally dared to “come out” and publicly identify exactly who they consider to be their biggest enemy: CHRISTIANS. That’s right. Bible-believing, Judeo-Christian morals-affirming Christian believers – the kind who founded America, wrote her Constitution, and defended her with their lives for centuries – are now considered the biggest enemy threatening the future of America! This almost unbelievable trend is documented in the stunning June 2022 issue of WND’s critically acclaimed Whistleblower magazine (available in both print and digital editions), titled “ELITES FINALLY REVEAL THEIR #1 ENEMY: CHRISTIANS.”


For 25 years, WND has boldly brought you the news that really matters. If you appreciate our Christian journalists and their uniquely truthful reporting and analysis, please help us by becoming a WND Insider!

Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

SUPPORT TRUTHFUL JOURNALISM. MAKE A DONATION TO THE NONPROFIT WND NEWS CENTER. THANK YOU!

This article was originally published by the WND News Center.

Related Posts