Kentucky clerk leaves jail, but ‘will not violate her conscience’

Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis emerged from the Carter County jail Tuesday afternoon surrounded by Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee and her attorney, who vowed that Davis would continue her stand against same-sex marriage.

Davis will not resign, nor will she “violate her conscience,” said Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit litigation firm that represents Davis.

Davis, an Apostolic Christian, then took the stage at a rally outside the jail, where she thanked hundreds who stood in the heat to support her.

“I just want to give God the glory,” Davis said, urging the crowd to “keep on pressing, don’t let down because He is here.”

U.S. District Judge David L. Bunning issued an order releasing Davis from custody early Tuesday afternoon, five days after he jailed her for refusing to issue marriage licenses.

Bunning took the action after attorneys for same-sex couples who had been refused licenses by Davis reported to the judge that a deputy clerk had issued licenses to three couples involved in the complaint.

Bunning said he was satisfied that Davis’ office is following its obligation to issue marriage licenses to all legally eligible couples. Bunning issued an order releasing Davis “forthwith.”

However, Bunning also instructed Davis not to interfere, directly or indirectly, with the efforts of her deputy clerks to issue licenses.

If she does, it will violate his order, and he will consider sanctions, Bunning said.

Bunning also ordered attorneys for the five deputy clerks who agreed to issue licenses to send him a report every 14 days on how they have complied. He did not say when that reporting would end.

Bunning jailed Davis for contempt on Thursday, after she refused to comply with his order to begin issuing marriage licenses.

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee was with Davis when she left the jail Tuesday.

Bunning’s order came shortly before a rally planned Tuesday afternoon at the Carter County jail, where Davis has been held since last Thursday. Randy Smith, an evangelist from Morehead, said supporters of Davis were excited by the news of her release.

“They are absolutely elated,” he said.

Smith said he believed Bunning’s decision to release Davis was motivated by a desire to ease the pressure on some Democratic politicians – Gov. Steve Beshear; his son Andy, who is running for attorney general; and Attorney General Jack Conway, who is the Democratic nominee for governor. Davis and her supporters have called on the governor to convene a special session of the Kentucky General Assembly to rewrite the state’s marriage laws.

Staver, Davis’ lawyer, noted the portion of Bunning’s order that warned her not to stop deputies from issuing licenses, but he said “the problem is today the same as it was when this case began: Her name and her authority is on a license, and it’s issued under the authority of the clerk of Rowan County. And it’s issued under the authority of Kim Davis’ name.”

“She cannot allow her name to be associated with something that conflicts with God’s” laws, Staver said. “Today Kim Davis is a free woman but her conscience did not change ... to get freedom.”

Staver said Davis will return to work later this week, but he said she will “not violate her conscience.”

Staver recounted how Davis found religion after several past marriages, before declaring that Davis would not resign her $80,000-a-year job.

“Kim Davis loves God. She loves people and she loves her job,” Staver said.

He added: “She will not resign that position.”

Davis stopped issuing marriage licenses to any couples, gay or straight, after the Supreme Court ruled in June that same-sex couples have a legal right to marry.

Davis said same-sex marriage conflicts with her conservative Christian view and that she could not issue a license under her name to a same-sex couple.

A deputy clerk in Davis’ office began issuing marriage licenses the day after Bunning sent Davis to jail.

However, copies of licenses filed in the court record show that were Davis’ name ordinarily would be, the words “Rowan County” were put in.

So instead of the licenses saying they were issued on a certain date “in the office of Kim Davis, Rowan County County Clerk,” examples included in the court file say issued “in the office of Rowan County, Rowan County County Clerk.”

Beshear said state lawmakers will probably reconsider the state’s marriage laws during the 2016 General Assembly, which begins in January. He said he would never call a special legislative session on the issue “when we had 117 of 120 clerks complying with the law.” Beshear’s term as governor ends in December.

Asked whether he would sign an executive order to change the licensing process, Beshear said, “We can make some changes in the forms, but I can’t change state law that says county clerks issue marriage licenses.”

Martin Cothran, spokesman for The Family Foundation, said releasing Davis doesn’t change the threat to religious freedom.

“There is no indication that the next person who exercises his or her First Amendment right to free religious exercise will not be thrown in jail, too,” Cothran said.

Cothran called for strengthening Kentucky’s religious-freedom protections. “We need to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” he said.

This story was originally published September 8, 2015 at 6:45 AM with the headline "Kentucky clerk leaves jail, but ‘will not violate her conscience’."