Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis: Appeals Court Rejects Rowan County Clerk’s Request To Delay Gay Marriage Licenses

An appeals court dismissed Kentucky clerk Kim Davis’s request Thursday to delay marriage license issuance to gay couples. Davis made headlines across U.S. earlier this year for refusing marriage licenses to same-sex couples citing religious beliefs.

The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected Davis’ plea for a reprieve after her attorney argued that a district judge’s mandate told her to issue licenses only to four gay couples, who had sued her for denying marriage licenses, the Associated Press reported. The attorneys said that the mandate ordered Davis to give licenses to the four couples and not all homosexual couples. U.S. District Judge David Bunning, who issued the mandate, had clarified that the order prevailed to all couples, not just the four who sued Davis.

The Rowan County clerk also spent five days in jail after being held in contempt of court in September. On Monday, Davis’ attorneys filed an appeal asking a district court to reverse the rulings that sent her jail. Her court filings stated that Bunning's order telling Davis to issue license marriage licenses to gay couples was a "rush to judgment" and curtailed her religious liberty.

In September, a lawyer for one of Davis’ deputy clerks said that Davis changed the marriage licenses weakening their legality. Davis was accused of having removed her name, the county’s name, and references to deputy clerks from marriage license forms after returning to work following her prison stint.

The 50-year-old Apostolic Christian also blamed Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear for her legal troubles and sued him over the issue. Beshear sent a directive to Kentucky’s 120 county clerks telling them to issue licenses to same-sex couples, after the Supreme Court’s ruling. Davis argued in a court filing, that the directive forced her to disobey the court order and spend jail time. Beshear has twice requested a judge to dismiss the suit.