Thursday, January 4, 2024

Ouch

Almost eight years after a former county clerk refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Kentucky, she must now pay $260,000 in fees and expenses to attorneys who represented one of the couples, a federal judge has ruled.

The ruling that circulated in the court system Tuesday is separate from a jury’s earlier decision that Kim Davis must pay $100,000 in damages to the couple, David Ermold and David Moore.

  WaPo
Obviously she doesn't have that kind of money. So, can I presume she'll be making payments until the day she dies?
Davis was 49 and the chief clerk in Rowan County in June 2015 when the Supreme Court ruled that gay couples had the constitutional right to marry. She asked to be excused from issuing same-sex couples marriage licenses because, as an evangelical Christian, same-sex marriage violated her religious beliefs.
Then maybe she shouldn't have been working in that position.
Her defiance of a court order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples led to her being jailed for five days in September 2015.

[...]

Liberty Counsel, a religious freedom organization that represented Davis, said Wednesday that it would appeal the case, including the damages and the attorneys fees.

“On appeal, we will not only request the jury verdict be set aside due to lack of evidence to support a damages claim, we will also argue Kim Davis is protected by the First Amendment Freedom of Religion Clause,” said Mathew D. Staver, the founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, in a statement. “And we will argue that the 2015 case of Obergefell v. Hodges should be overruled. Only two of the original five justices remain on the bench. Chief Justice John Roberts filed a strong dissent to the case, along with Thomas and Alito. Obergefell is on very thin ice and lacks legal any legal precedent or foundation.”

[...]

From the start, Davis has been represented by Liberty Counsel, which provides free legal assistance for “advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of human life and the family,” according to its website. Davis issued a statement in 2015 explaining that her refusal to license a same-sex marriage is “a Heaven or Hell decision.”
Again - why is she working in a job that puts her in that position?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

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