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No Retreat, No Surrender For Kim Davis
The legal team behind Kim Davis at this point might as well quote patriot John Paul Jones, who famously said, “I have not yet begun to fight!”
The Kentucky clerk and her lawyers told the Associated Press they’re not quitting their effort to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Rowan County after again asking a judge to postpone his mandate that she license all couples, and again losing.
Federal Judge David Bunning on Wednesday dismissed Davis’ arguments that she is likely to suffer irreparable harm by having to issue the licenses.
“This argument is unpersuasive because Davis has created her own risk of harm by violating a valid order issued by this court,” Bunning wrote in his ruling. ”As for the public interest, the court simply notes that the public has an interest in the enforcement of valid court orders.”
Attorneys with Liberty Counsel, a Florida-based firm that specializes in defending conservative Christians in LGBT rights cases, has repeatedly asked the appeals court to toss Bunning’s order that the Rowan County clerk’s office issue marriage licenses to all couples.
Attorney Mat Staver is arguing that because the couples who sued her received a license, she should not have to issue any more while that case is pending.
As The Advocate reported last week, the appeals court denied her request, citing the legal technicality that her lawyers did not first ask the district judge for a delay, as federal court rules require. That’s why Davis’ legal team redirected the appeal to Bunning.
“It would essentially allow her to reinstate her ‘no marriage licenses’ policy during the pendency of the appeal and likely violate the constitutional right of eligible couples,” the judge wrote.
Staver told the Associated Press the request with the district judge was just “a formality” and announced he will soon file that same motion with the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
Meanwhile the ACLU has now asked Judge Bunning to order Davis to reissue the licenses, which The Advocate reported she altered to remove Davis’s name, job title and county. The ACLU, which represents gay and straight couples who were denied a license by the clerk, wants Davis threatened with penalties such as fines if she continues to refuse to issue valid licenses.
Another penalty would be to strip Davis of her authority by placing her office under a receivership, which would allow another person to oversee the marriage licensing process.
No word yet from Bunning on that request.
Dawn Ennis
www.advocate.com/marriage-equality/2015/9/24/no-retreat-no-surrender-kim-davis
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