by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
In 2015 just as the country was getting used to the notion of same-sex marriage, something which had recently been legalized nation-wide through a ruling of the US Supreme Court, a county clerk in northeastern Kentucky made national news by her refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, regardless of what the Supreme Court had said. The clerk, Kim Davis of Rowan County, became a national figure when she openly defied the new law of the land. Davis cited her religious beliefs in denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
A US District Judge found Kim Davis to be in contempt of court and sent her to jail where she spent five nights behind bars. One couple eventually sued Davis over her refusal to grant them a marriage license, and in 2022 the same District Judge who had originally sent Davis to jail ruled against her in the civil suit. The following year a jury awarded the couple $100,000 in damages, payable by the former county clerk.
Last week the same judge again ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in the case and said that Ms. Davis must also pay their attorney's fees - an additional $260,000. Her lawyers argued that the fees were excessive, but the judge ruled otherwise. Her lawyers are asking the court to reverse the jury's verdict because they believe there was insufficient evidence to award monetary damages, and they are promising an appeal to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals if that motion is denied.
Ms. Davis had her fifteen minutes of fame, and then some, but it came with a cost. Obstinance, especially when it interferes with the constitutional rights of others, can be quite expensive.
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