LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (AP) — Embattled Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis “has not demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success” in her legal bid to exempt her office from licensing same-sex marriages, a federal appeals court reiterated Tuesday.
One day after Davis returned to work following a stint in jail for defying a federal judge, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals shot down another of her requests to delay issuing the licenses.
After four couples sued Davis for refusing them licenses, she filed a counter lawsuit against Gov. Steve Beshear, alleging that he improperly instructed clerks to abide by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June that legalized gay marriage. The appeals court rejected her request to delay that directive, but also declined to toss the appeal entirely, as Beshear had requested.
Davis, the Rowan County Clerk, cited her Christian faith and religious freedom when she defied a series of court orders and refused to issue the licenses. U.S. District Judge David Bunning found her in contempt and jailed her for five days, propelling Davis to folk-hero status among some on the religious right.
One of her deputies began issuing licenses while she was in jail. When she returned to work Monday, Davis announced that she would not block the deputies from issuing licenses. But she ordered her office to alter the templates to remove her name and title, substituting “pursuant to federal court order,” and said she had “grave concerns” that the issued licenses would be legally valid.
Though the governor and attorney general said they believe the licenses are valid, lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union who sued Davis on behalf of four couples also are concerned. They said they would wait to consider any legal action, however, until the pending appeals are resolved.
