FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) – A federal judge has ordered Kentucky taxpayers to pay more than $220,000 in attorneys’ fees for a county clerk who refused to issue marriage license to same-sex couples.
U.S. District Judge Jim Bunning says Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis was acting for the state government when she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples on the basis of her personal religious beliefs.
He ordered the state to pay $222,695 in attorneys’ fees and another $2,008 in costs.
He said the county government and Davis herself are not liable.
Davis spent five days in jail for refusing a judge’s order that she issue the licenses to gay couples shortly after a U.S. Supreme Court decision effectively legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
Kentucky’s Republican governor signed a law last year that removed the names of clerks from state marriage licenses.
