Posted on 09/02/2015 7:00:44 PM PDT by markomalley
The Kentucky county clerk who refuses to issue gay marriage licenses may be out of legal options as she heads before a judge Thursday. Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis will stand before U.S. District Judge David Bunning for refusing to follow an order by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court refused her request Monday to stay its unanimous ruling that she provide any and all couples with marriage licenses.
Davis may face severe criminal or civil consequences for her actions. She could face hefty daily fines and even put in jail. As an elected official, Davis cannot be fired, but she can be impeached by the state legislature. A judge can also remove her and order another official to do her job.
“I never imagined a day like this would come, where I would be asked to violate a central teaching of Scripture and of Jesus Himself regarding marriage,” Davis said in a statement. “It is not a light issue for me. It is a Heaven or Hell decision.”
In a landmark decision in June, the Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. Constitution recognizes same-sex marriage. The case Obergefell v. Hodges effectively meant all states must recognize and issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Despite exhausting all available legal options, Davis has refused to comply.
Jonathan Turley, a professor of law at The George Washington University Law School, notes the judge could impose significant penalties on her.
“The most obvious is contempt of court,” Turley told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “Contempt sanctions can be levied as either a criminal or civil matter. The person can be threatened with jail or a court can impose a running fine.”
The fine against her could be very high. As Turley noted, it is very much up to the discretion of the judge. The severity often depends on whom it’s against and the nature of the case.
“There is actually a great range depending on the case,” he noted. “The daily running fine is generally larger for corporations and … are less common against government officials who are appearing in their official capacity.”
“Such fines against the government raise added issues,” Turley continued. “The court could also issue an order to a subordinate or to the city to circumvent the Clerk while potentially jailing the Clerk.”
“She has run out of options,” Turley concluded. “We live in a nation of laws. She appealed her case to the highest court without success. The court will now have considerable latitude in sanctioning further contempt of its orders.”
Davis maintains her appeals to the Constitution, the founding fathers, and God.
“It is a matter of religious liberty, which is protected under the First Amendment, the Kentucky Constitution, and in the Kentucky Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” Davis argued. “I want to continue to perform my duties, but I also am requesting what our Founders envisioned.”
The day after the court refused her request for a stay, gay couples went to the Rowan County Clerk office to get marriage licenses.
In front of a mob of reporters Davis still denied their request citing “God’s authority.” A heated argument followed, with the couples demanding they get their marriage licenses.
Under current U.S. law, God does not have the authority to overrule the Supreme Court.
A couple of filthy faggots playing house will never constitute a marriage. Except perhaps in their own diseased brains.
This Kentucky clerk is nothing short of a hero.
There is no evil or depravity in the 21st century.
How nice. How comforting your beliefs must be to you: high self-esteem is important.
[The court that punished Galileo had law behind it, too]
No it didn’t. They acted outside the law and cited the authority of God (according to their interpretation of the Bible) as justification.
If the Kenyan can blow off SCROTUS, why can’t one of “the little people” do the same? America has become a “fundamentally transformed” lawless nation. Laws don’t mean jack anymore. At least not to the DemocRATS.
The law punished Galileo- and ignorance of history is no excuse.
But in your case it’s an explanation.
Sounds like you’ve been caught skulking around at the municipal park restrooms a few times too many.
The equivalent would be ordering an Amish County Clerk to issue a driver's license. Or ordering a Catholic County Clerk to issue a marriage license to someone who's been divorced. Or ordering a Quaker County Clerk to issue a gun permit.
That's a fact.
A Power of Attorney will not get them out of paying estate tax.
The Supreme Court did nothing except deny a stay. The district judge issued an injunction. (And yes, writs of mandamus are still used in the federal courts, but generally only by the appellate courts.)
Answer: Because they want to impose themselves on our sacrosanct institutions and sh!t all over them.
They (homosexuals)have entered into territory that is not theirs. This only opens the door for, yes, other depraved minds that dream up whatever they want to ‘marry’, to enter into sacred territory. The goal for a long time is to make this depravity unprivate.
[The law punished Galileo]
The Holy Inquisition, presided over by the Pope himself, tried and convicted Galileo. Their sole evidence of Galileo’s guilt was quotes from the Bible that were used as “proof” that the Earth was the center of the universe.
I admit to being puzzled by your point in trying to compare Galileo’s trial with this clerk’s refusal to comply with the court order.
Those are acts the authors and ratifiers of the Constitution would not find repugnant.
That he courts enforce laws repugnant to them, on the basis of their intent, is a recipe for disorder.
The Inquisition was the Supreme Court of it’s day. With that knowledge you should be able to se my point.
She is not being asked to endorse homosexual marriage. Only to certify that X & X meet the legal requirements set by law.
If a homosexual couple want to file their taxes thru a CPA, the CPA is not being asked for their opinion. They just need to apply the tax law that exists.
If she feels she cannot do so, she needs to quit. She is paid to do a job, not to express her opinion of the law. One can disagree with a speed limit and still enforce it.
Indeed, the rule of law is totally dead in this nation. Just like the Constitution. It’s become selective and arbitrary enforcement.
Not that it even matters much anymore. Any country that legally and morally equates two homo pervs as constituting a marriage is a country that isn’t worth spit.
What part of ‘Keep your nose out of other people’s genitals and mind your own business’ do you find so hard to practice?
This is the exact reason why this Kentucky clerk is so wrong. It’s not her business to judge the private sexual practices of the citizens she was elected to serve.
Ah,but they DON”T keep it private,and that is the problem.
Along with the facts it is un-natural, and leads to diseases.
Sexual perverts have been crying “old-fashioned morals are outmoded” for centuries. The perverts are still wrong.
It is up to the state of Kentucky to stand up with this clerk against the bully, unconstitutional fed tyrants. Kentucky should tell the feds NO PENALTIES and Kentucky intends to protect Kentucky citizens against federal tyranny.
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