Rowan County, Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis has been jailed without
bail since Thursday for refusing to allow her office to issue
marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Her attorney, Matthew Staver, says that even some people accused
of murder are allowed to be free on bail while their trial is
pending.
"This woman who hasn't done any crime at all," Staver told
Newsmax on Sunday. "She's being held without bail for an
indefinite period of time. In fact, one of the U.S. marshals
when they were directed by the judge to take her into custody
told her he had never arrested somebody who had not committed a
crime."
GOP presidential candidate
Mike Huckabee told ABC's "This Week" Sunday
that there is a double standard for liberals and conservatives
when it comes to violating same-sex marriage laws. He pointed to
former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome and President Barack
Obama's former Attorney General Eric Holder for allowing
same-sex marriage when it was illegal, yet suffering no
consequences.
But Davis, who says same-sex marriage violates her Christian
beliefs, is in control of her own destiny, Harvard Law professor
Alan Dershowitz tells Newsmax.
"She can get out immediately," Dershowitz said. "All she has to
do is resign her job … and say, 'Look, I can't do this in
conscience. And because I can't do it in conscience, I really
can't hold the job of being clerk.' That's the principled
decision."
Davis' being able to continue to serve as county clerk while
refusing to issue marriage licenses would be comparable to a
conscientious objector, rather than declining to enter the Army,
joining instead, then refusing to follow orders, Dershowitz
said.
U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning has said he jailed Davis
without bail in an effort to force her to comply on the U.S.
Supreme Court ruling this summer legalizing gay marriage
nationally. Allowing her to pay a fine wouldn't have worked,
Bunning said, because Davis has a large group of supporters
willing to cover the cost.
Staver, Davis' lawyer, is skeptical that Bunning ever even
considered a fine – even though the gay couples seeking the
original injuction against Davis specifically requested a fine
and not jail time.
The temporary injunction ended at the end of the day August 31,
Staver said, and at 10:30 the next morning a motion for contempt
was filed. Bunning set a 1 p.m. hearing, allowing only a
five-page response, when the rules allow for 20 pages.
When the hearing was held 48 hours later, Bunning already had
the jailer – who had to travel from another county – in the
courtroom ready to take Davis into custody.
"Then when he read he was going to confine her, he read from a
prepared statement he had already written, and didn't give civil
penalties at a graduated rate," Staver said. Jailing Davis was
the judge's intent "from the very beginning," Staver said.
University of Alabama School of Law professor Ronald
Krotoszynski Jr. tells Newsmax that he was surprised as well. A
judge usually starts with a fine first, Krotoszynski said,
before moving to incarceration. The exception is with
journalists who refuse to give up their confidential sources.
Staver is appealing the decision to the Sixth Circuit Court of
Appeals, but Krotoszynski said he doesn't expect to see the
decision overturned.
Unless the Sixth Circuit finds the judge was "wildy
inappropriate" in his ruling, it will stand, he said.
Staver feels differently, telling Newsmax, "This is just this
particular judge who violates the rule of law to reach his
desired end."
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