Kim Davis, former Kentucky secretary violated couples’ rights, judge says
Old Rowan County, Kentucky, Secretary Kim Davis violated the constitutional rights of two couples by refusing to grant them a marriage license after the U.S. Supreme Court declared same-sex marriage legal in 2015, a federal judge ruled Friday.
Even so, whether she will have to pay damages to those married couples remains to be determined by the jury.
Davis international news coverage and ended up a short stint in prison for contempt of court more than six years ago after she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Eastern Kentucky’s Rowan County despite the Obergefell Supreme Court’s landmark decision in June of this year. 2015.
In a ruling Friday, U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning said the nation’s highest court defines marriage as a fundamental right under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and “clearly It is clear that Davis made a conscious decision to violate” the rights of David Ermold. and David Moore and James Yates and Will Smith.
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Bunning’s ruling said Davis, who voters are overthrown as district clerk in 2018, argued that a federal court could not impose certain civil liability on her because it would violate her constitutional right to self-execution. by religion.
“Ultimately, this Court’s decision is simple – Davis cannot use his own constitutional rights as a shield to violate the constitutional rights of others while performing his duties as an attorney. how to be an elected official,” wrote Bunning, of the Eastern District Court of Kentucky.
The couples in this lawsuit are seeking damages and punitive damages as well as gradually increasing legal fees in a years-long battle in this court.
Bunning’s ruling said the plaintiffs’ testimony “created at least an issue of accuracy as to whether they were entitled to damages.” For example, Ermold says every time he thinks about his marriage, “I have to think about Kim Davis and the experience, how we were humiliated and treated compared to humans.”
Yates, another plaintiff, testified that damages would compensate for “his and Smith’s experience with Davis, the resulting publicity, and the threats resulting from their relationship with Davis. .”
The question of whether damages should be awarded will be determined by a jury, according to Bunning’s ruling, which said: “It is this Court’s opinion that Davis has violated Plaintiff’s right to marry. and the only remaining issue is the issue of compensation.”
Florida-based Liberty Counsel is representing Davis in court and said Friday it will continue to argue that she is not liable for damages.
“This case raises serious First Amendment claims of religious freedom and is more likely to reach the Supreme Court,” Liberty Counsel President Mat Staver said in a statement today. Friday.
Follow Morgan Watkins on Twitter: @ morganwatkins26.