Kentucky clerk leaves jail; judge orders her not to interfere with marriages

GRAYSON, Ky. 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.

“She will not violate her conscience,” said Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit litigation firm that represents Davis.

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. 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’s order came shortly before a rally Tuesday afternoon at the Carter County jail in Grayson, where Davis has been held since last Thursday.

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

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.

Beshear told reporters in Lexington on Tuesday afternoon that he is “glad” Davis is out of jail and said he does not think her religious liberties ever were challenged.

“I took no joy at all in the fact that the clerk was in custody but that was a matter between the judge and the clerk,” Beshear said after addressing an environmental conference.

Beshear said he did not see Davis’ religious freedoms ever being “trampled upon.”

“You had a public official who voluntarily ran for election to that office, was paid $80,000 a year and statutes set out her duties,” said the Democratic governor. “She then decided to pick out the duties she would perform and not perform some of the others.”

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. She has said same-sex marriage conflicts with her religious beliefs 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.

Beshear said state lawmakers will likely reconsider the state’s marriage laws during the 2016 General Assembly that begins in January. But 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 if 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 the release of Davis does not change the ongoing 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.

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