UPDATE: Appeal filed for ex-clerk who refused marriage licenses

Davis was sued in 2015 after refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples because of her religious beliefs

Update from April 1, 2022:

ASHLAND, Ky. (AP) – Attorneys for a former Kentucky clerk who wouldn’t issue marriage licenses to two same-sex couples have appealed a federal court ruling that she violated the couples’ constitutional rights and might have to pay damages.

Kim Davis, former clerk of Rowan County, briefly went to jail in 2015 over her refusal, which she based on her belief that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.

A jury trial will be needed to determine any damages the couples might be owed. A date was not set during a hearing Friday pending the appeal.

Michael Gartland, an attorney for plaintiffs David Ermold and David Moore, said Friday that he expects the trial will be held sometime next year.

“I will be seeking sanctions for filing this frivolous appeal,” Gartland said.

Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, the law firm that represents Davis, said in a statement that she “is entitled to an accommodation based on her sincerely held religious beliefs about marriage.”

He said the case will now go to the Circuit Court of Appeals and added it has a “high potential” of reaching the Supreme Court.

U.S. District Judge David Bunning in Ashland wrote in his ruling last month that Davis “cannot use her own constitutional rights as a shield to violate the constitutional rights of others while performing her duties as an elected official.”

Davis, who bases her objection to same-sex marriage on her interpretation of her Christian faith, stopped issuing marriage licenses soon after the 2015 Supreme Court decision in which same-sex couples won the right to marry nationwide.

A judge ordered Davis to issue the licenses, and she was sued by gay and straight couples and spent five days in jail over her refusal.

She was released only after her staff issued the licenses on her behalf but removed her name from the form. The state legislature later enacted a law removing the names of all county clerks from state marriage licenses.

Davis, a Republican, ultimately lost her bid for reelection in 2018. Democrat Elwood Caudill Jr. is now the county’s clerk.

Davis had argued that a legal doctrine called qualified immunity protected her from being sued for damages by couples Ermold and Moore as well as James Yates and Will Smith. The U.S. Supreme Court in October 2020 left in place a decision that allowed the lawsuit to move forward, declining to take the case.

Update from March 18, 2022:

ASHLAND, Ky. (WTVQ) – U.S. District Judge David L. Bunning ruled in favor of two same-sex couples in a civil lawsuit who claimed then-Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis violated their constitutional rights by denying to issue them marriage licenses.

Judge Bunning granted summary judgment in the suit for David Ermold and David Moore, and James Yates and Will Smith.  It is not clear if Davis will have to pay the legal fees accrued since the lawsuit was filed in 2015.

The judge denied Davis’ request for summary judgment on the question of damages, so the case will now proceed to trial on the issue of damages, if any. Davis argues that a finding of liability would violate the First Amendment Free Exercise of Religion.

Davis is represented by the Liberty Counsel.  The Liberty Counsel says it will continue to argue that Davis is not liable for damages because she was entitled to a religious accommodation.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “Kim Davis is entitled to protection to an accommodation based on her sincere religious belief. This case raises serious First Amendment free exercise of religion claims and has a high potential of reaching the Supreme Court.”

When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that same-sex marriage was legal, Davis, who was clerk at the time, stopped issuing all marriage licenses because of her religious beliefs.  That led to numerous lawsuits against her and a five-day jail stay after being found in contempt of court for defying a federal judge’s order to issue the marriage licenses.

Davis argued the qualified immunity legal doctrine shielded her from being liable.  The plaintiffs argued she was not entitled to qualified immunity because she violated their constitutional rights and right to marry, which they argued was clearly established at the time of Davis’ refusal.

The court ruled Davis knowingly violated the law.  The U.S. Supreme Court did not take up Davis’ appeal, leaving in place a decision that allowed the lawsuit to move forward

Davis, a Republican, lost her reelection bid in 2018.

Original story below from August 23, 2019:

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) – The state of Kentucky must pay legal fees and court costs for the couples who sued Kim Davis, the Rowan County clerk who refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses.

Eight couples sued Davis in 2015 for refusing to follow the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling establishing a right of same-sex couples to marry.

On Friday, a three-judge panel for the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati upheld a ruling by a federal court judge, who said that the state of Kentucky must pay the $224,000 in attorney fees and costs incurred by the couples.

The state argued it should be Davis, not the state, paying the legal bill. But the panel says Kentucky’s state government regulates the administration of marriage licenses and therefore was responsible for Davis’conduct.

Davis lost her re-election bid as clerk last November.