America’s most famous clerk, Kim Davis is headed back to court to defend her constitutional right to trample on the constitutional rights of others and ignore the law that she is paid to enforce.
The Rowan County Kentucky clerk made headlines when she refused to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples, ignoring a federal decision by the Supreme Court which legalized gay marriage and the orders of Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear. Ms. Davis and her attorneys are asking the court to dismiss a series of unfavorable rulings against her issued by U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning.
Ms. Davis spent five nights in jail for refusing to do her job. And is now employing the argument that she is the victim in this case. The three-times-divorced religious crusader and her attorneys are saying that her religious freedoms are being trampled upon — by the states insistence that she perform her job.
Do you see #KimDavis hanging out with the Pope at the Historic Irvington Halloween Festival? https://t.co/aELJrdtiCR pic.twitter.com/xF7eF41Q0m
— IndyStar (@indystar) November 1, 2015
Ms. Davis was sued by the American Civil Liberties in June on behalf of four gay couples when she refused to issue any marriage licenses after gay marriage became legal. Judge Burnning ruled in the ACLU’s favor and ordered Davis to issue the licenses. She refused and was held in contempt of court. Although she was sent to prison, she was not fired. Her attorneys are asking that four of the rulings be overturned including her refusal to issue licenses and the decision to hold her in contempt. If the decisions are reversed and the reversals are upheld, this could arguably effect other employees who refused to perform required job duties on the basis of their religion.
Her lawyer said this in a statement:
By imprisoning Davis and threatening to hold her hostage indefinitely as a prisoner of her conscience, the district court imposed direct pressure and substantial burden on Davis, forcing her to choose between her religious beliefs and forfeiting her essential personal freedom on one hand, or abandoning those beliefs to keep her freedom on the other hand.
Kim Davis is sure making the most of her bigotry. — roxane gay (@rgay) November 4, 2015
Other conservatives jumped to her defense including Mike Huckabee who said that he would take Ms. Davis’ place in jail, Mr. Huckabee said the Supreme Court had “no right” to “make up law.”
Davis hasn’t won a single appeal since gay marriage was legalized this summer.
[HuffPo] Featured image via Twitter
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