Kim Davis

Kim Davis
Clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky
Incumbent
Assumed office January 5, 2015
Preceded by	Jean W. Bailey
Personal details
Born	Kimberly Jean Bailey (1965-09-17) September 17, 1965 Morehead, Kentucky, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouses	Dwain Allen Wallace -- (1984–1994) Joe Davis -- (1996–2004) Thomas Dale McIntyre Jr. -- (2007–2008) Joe Davis -- (2009–present)
Residence(s)	Morehead, Kentucky
Known for	Refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples following Obergefell v. Hodges

Kimberly Jean Bailey Davis (born September 17, 1965) is a Rowan County, Kentucky, clerk who defied a U.S. Federal Court order requiring that she issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples following the Obergefell v. Hodges U.S. Supreme Court case that legalized same-sex marriage in the United States.

Davis filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court seeking to put the lower court's order on hold while she seeks an appeal. After the Supreme Court denied the application, Davis continued to deny the licenses, saying she was acting "under God's authority". On September 3, 2015, she was jailed for contempt of court. After deputy clerks began issuing marriage licenses in her absence, she, through her attorneys, stated that any marriage licenses not bearing her signature were invalid, while Rowan County Attorney Cecil Watkins dismissed her argument. Attorney General of Kentucky Jack Conway is currently considering whether a special prosecutor should pursue potential charges of official misconduct against her.

Career

Deputy clerk

Davis served as Rowan County chief deputy clerk, reporting to her mother, Jean W. Bailey, for 24 years. Kentucky law permits elected county officials to employ their family members and to determine their compensation; it is common practice in the commonwealth.

In 2011, county residents complained about Davis' compensation, an annual wage of $51,812 and an additional $11,301 in overtime and other compensation during 2011. Davis earned substantially more than the county's other chief deputies, including $38,000 for the Chief Deputy Sheriff Joe Cline and $36,000 to the Deputy Judge-Executive Jerry Alderman, neither of whom receive overtime pay. The County Fiscal Court reviewed the compensation of clerks in the office and voted unanimously to cut the department's salary budget by one-third for 2012.

2014 election

In 2014, Bailey chose not to run for re-election. Davis then ran for county clerk as a Democrat.

At a candidate forum, Davis said she was best qualified for the position because of her 26 years of experience in the clerk's office. Candidate Elwood Caudill Jr. said he would save taxpayers' money by increasing efficiency and delivering excellent customer services while drawing on his 17 years of experience with public records. Candidate Charlotte Combess said she was qualified for the position because of her experience budgeting for her two businesses and her work for Morehead State University's financial aid and admissions offices.

Davis won the Democratic Party primary, and advanced to the general election against Republican John Cox. She defeated Cox in the general election. Following her election, Davis told the Morehead News, "My words can never express the appreciation but I promise to each and every one that I will be the very best working clerk that I can be and will be a good steward of their tax dollars and follow the statutes of this office to the letter."

On January 5, 2015, she took the oath of office and began serving her four-year term (ends January 7, 2019) as the Rowan County clerk. As county clerk, she receives an annual salary of $80,000.

Same-sex marriage ruling

Main article: Miller v. Davis

On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case of Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. ___ (2015), holding in a 5–4 decision that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Following the ruling, eighteen counties in three states–Alabama, Kentucky, and Texas–continued to deny licenses to same-sex couples. Eleven in Alabama, as well as Rowan County, Kentucky, stopped issuing marriage licenses altogether rather than issue them to same-sex couples.

Davis reacted to the ruling by forbidding her clerks from issuing any marriage licenses at all, resulting in a strained workplace atmosphere. The Kentucky Trial Court Review wrote that her "conduct has terrorized not just her staff but everyone that works in the courthouse. And all for a foolish mission aided by out of state charlatan lawyers trying to raise money for their 'religious liberty' mission."

In August 2015, Davis refused to follow a court order requiring her to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. She refused on the grounds of religious freedom, stating that she was acting "under God's authority". Some sources have questioned whether Davis, having been married four times, was acting hypocritically in the "application of her beliefs".

First-degree official misconduct is a misdemeanor according to the Kentucky penal code. It applies to a public official who "refrains from performing a duty imposed upon him by law or clearly inherent in the nature of his office." If convicted, a public official may be sentenced to up to a year in jail and a $500 fine.

Federal district judge David Bunning of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky ruled she must issue marriage licenses to all applicants, and both that court and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals refused to stay that ruling pending appeal. The U.S. Supreme Court also declined to stay the District Court's ruling, but Davis continued to defy Bunning's order.

Contempt hearing

Bunning ordered Davis and her six deputy clerks to appear before him on September 3 in Ashland after two gay couples and two straight couples sought to have her held in contempt of court. The four couples and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) asked the court to fine Davis rather than incarcerate her. Bunning ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and held Davis in contempt, but remanded her to custody after the hearing. The judge said she will remain incarcerated until she complies with the court's order to issue marriage licenses. Bunning reportedly said that fines were not an option "because outsiders would pay them for her." Of the six deputy clerks who report to Davis, only Davis' son Nathan refused to comply with the court's order to start issuing marriage licenses. After the hearing, Davis was transported by the U.S. Marshals to the Carter County Detention Center in Grayson.

Davis is represented by attorneys from the law firm Liberty Counsel. On August 31, in response to the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to grant her stay request, she said:

I never imagined a day like this would come, where I would be asked to violate a central teaching of Scripture and of Jesus Himself regarding marriage. To issue a marriage license which conflicts with God's definition of marriage, with my name affixed to the certificate, would violate my conscience. It is not a light issue for me. It is a Heaven or Hell decision. For me it is a decision of obedience. I have no animosity toward anyone and harbor no ill will. To me this has never been a gay or lesbian issue. It is about marriage and God's Word.

Reaction

The Supreme Court of the United States refused to allow Davis to continue to deny marriage licenses to all couples, gay or straight. "It cannot be defensibly argued that the holder of the Rowan County Clerk's office, apart from who personally occupies that office, may decline to act in conformity with the United States Constitution as interpreted by a dispositive holding of the United States Supreme Court," a unanimous three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit wrote in refusing to extend an appeal for Davis. "There is thus little or no likelihood that the clerk in her official capacity will prevail on appeal," the panel further said. Katherine Davis, a law professor at Columbia University, said "Kim Davis has all sorts of religious liberty rights secured under the First Amendment and under other laws, but they are not at stake in this case. All she's asked to do with couples that come before her is certify that they've met the state requirements for marriage, so her religious opposition to same-sex marriage is absolutely irrelevant in this context." Steven R. Shapiro, legal director of the ACLU, said, "The law is clear and the courts have spoken. The duty of public officials is to enforce the law, not place themselves above it." Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin and others have compared Davis' refusal to follow court orders to Alabama Governor George Wallace's 1963 segregationist Stand in the Schoolhouse Door incident. "Ms. Davis has the fundamental right to believe what she likes ... But as a public servant, she does not have the right to pick and choose which laws she will follow or which services she will provide," the Human Rights Campaign said. On September 3, the Anti-Defamation League commented:

No one should question or challenge Ms. Davis's religious beliefs. The fact that some news articles and commentators have criticized Davis's beliefs as inconsistent or hypocritical is beside the point. The bottom line is that she has no right, constitutional or otherwise, to refuse to do the job the state of Kentucky pays her to do ... If Ms. Davis or others feel that they cannot fulfill the duties they were selected to perform, they should step aside and allow others to serve the community.

Supporters of Davis also spoke out. Liberty Counsel, the law firm defending Davis, wrote that "Kim Davis is being treated as a criminal because she cannot violate her conscience. While she may be behind bars for now, Kim Davis is a free woman. Her conscience remains unshackled." Davis' attorneys said she would not accept a proposed compromise to no longer be found in contempt if she agreed to not interfere with her deputies issuing licenses for same-sex couples. Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers also came to her defense. "I am requesting Judge Bunning delay, withhold or temper his ruling in this case until the General Assembly has an opportunity to establish new frameworks under Kentucky law," he wrote in an amicus briefing to U.S. District Judge David Bunning.

Official misconduct

The Rowan County Attorney's Office said it has referred to the Attorney General of Kentucky Jack Conway's office a charge of official misconduct against Davis. The decision of whether to file charges is up to the Attorney General Conway.

According to Kentucky Revised Statute 522.020,

A public servant is guilty of official misconduct in the first degree when, with intent to obtain or confer a benefit or to injure another person or to deprive another person of a benefit, knowingly commits an act relating to his office which constitutes an unauthorized exercise of his official functions or refrains from performing a duty imposed upon him by law or clearly inherent in the nature of his office or violates any statute or lawfully adopted rule or regulation relating to his office.

Official misconduct in the first degree is a Class A misdemeanor and is punishable with imprisonment not to exceed 12 months and fines of $500. Official misconduct in the second degree is a Class B misdemeanor and carries a potential punishment of up to 90 days imprisonment and fines of $250.

The Kentucky Attorney General may appoint a special prosecutor to investigate whether she violated the state official misconduct statute when her office refused to issue a license to a Rowan County gay couple. "We're reviewing that matter," said Leland Hulbert, a spokesperson for the Kentucky Attorney General's office. "Whether or not our office assigns a special prosecutor about possible criminal charges, that is probably yet to be determined." "I understand that passions are high on both sides of this issue, but we are a nation of laws, and no one can defy an order from a federal judge," Conway's office further noted.

Personal life

Davis is described as an "Apostolic Christian" who worships three times a week at the Solid Rock Apostolic Church near Morehead. It is a congregation in the Apostolic Church, a Pentecostal Christian denomination. She experienced a "religious awakening" in 2011, following her mother-in-law's "dying wish" that she attend church. Davis has held Bible study for inmates of the Rowan County jail.

Davis has been married four times to three different men. The first three marriages ended in divorce in 1994, 2006, and 2008. She is the mother of twins, who were born five months after her divorce from her first husband. Her third husband is the biological father of the twins, who were adopted by her second husband, Joe, who is also her fourth and current husband.

Joe supports her stance against same-sex marriage. One of Davis' twin sons, Nathan, works in her office as a deputy clerk and has taken the same position of denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Election history

Rowan County, Kentucky County Clerk general election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Kim Davis	3,909	53.2%
	Republican	John C. Cox	3,444	46.8%

Rowan County, Kentucky County Clerk Democratic primary, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Kim Davis	1,817	46.2%
	Democratic	Elwood Caudill, Jr.	1,794	45.6%
	Democratic	Charlotte Combess	322	8.2%

External links

• Written statement from Kim Davis
• Video documenting Kim Davis' refusal to issue a marriage license "under God's authority"
• Rowan County Clerk's Office website