Kentucky Clerk Found In Contempt For Refusing To Issue Marriage Licenses

[decocker 7,198]

In a motion filed with the court yesterday, her lawyers argued that it is presently "impossible" for Davis to comply with the court order because it would "irreparably and irreversibly violates her conscience by directing her to authorize and issue SSM licenses bearing her name and approval."

Legal scholars disagree with that assessment.

Here's how Katherine Franke, a law professor at Columbia University where she heads the Public Rights/Private Conscience Project, explained it to NPR's Robert Siegel earlier this week:

FRANKE: She has absolutely no legal ground to stand on. As a public official, she's supposed to abide by the law and perform her public duties, which are issuing marriage licenses to qualified couples. Same-sex couples are now qualified to marry in the state of Kentucky, so she is refusing to do her job.

SIEGEL: But are there protections - even for public officials - for some religious convictions that might, in some ways, conflict with someone else's performance of the same job?

FRANKE: Of course. Kim Davis has all sorts of religious liberty rights secured under the First Amendment and under other laws. But they are not at stake in this case. All she's asked to do with couples that come before her is certify that they've met the state requirements for marriage. So her religious opposition to same-sex marriage is absolutely irrelevant in this context.

It's worth noting that in an amicus brief filed yesterday, Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers asked the court to "temper its response."

The laws of the state, argues Stivers, have not yet caught up with the Supreme Court decision that made same-sex marriage legal across the whole United States.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/09/03/437174853/kentucky-clerk-is-due-in-federal-court-for-contempt-hearing

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Wait for the crowd funding page to go up

[TENBILLIONDOLLARS 216]

America, 1776-2015.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

America, 1776-2015.

Some might say it passed away 150 years before then.

[decocker 7,198]

America, 1776-2015 -January 20, 2009

fixed. lets be honest about time of death pls.

[JohnR! 5,495]

America, 1776-2015 -January 20, 2009, 12:01pm

fixed. lets be honest about time of death pls.

Why stop at the date? :rofl: :rofl:

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

I like AJ's new username. Very Trumpian.

[TENBILLIONDOLLARS 216]

I like AJ's new username. Very Trumpian.

Trumpian? I guess you think you're funny. Well, you're not. See, Killary, this is exactly why no one likes you.

[Ban Hammer 13,333]

[JohnR! 5,495]

There is a facebook poll that would disprove that and you should know... You voted..

Trumpian? I guess you think you're funny. Well, you're not. See, Killary, this is exactly why no one likes you.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

There is a facebook poll that would disprove that and you should know... You voted..

[Darnell 8,478]

Was she elected to that position?

or just a wage slave? If the latter, why not folksen go after her boss, instead?

[Dashinka 24,488]

Was she elected to that position?

or just a wage slave? If the latter, why not folksen go after her boss, instead?

She's the elected clerk.

[JohnR! 5,495]

She needs to get another job.

[Transborderwife 4,666]

she needs serious help.

Edited September 3, 2015 by Transborderwife