Discussion for article #240200
Nuts. And legally indefensible?
Theyâre using her.
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I hope they do the right thing and let her continue her Babble studies in the hoosegow until she resigns.
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A lot of anger and bitterness here. God wouldnât be pleased âŚ
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Whats the matter? Chow no good?
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They gotta say no or this opens a whole new can of worms. Let her rot.
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Really? They want an emergency release order to cancel the contempt charges so that instead the Governor of Kentucky is compelled to allow Davis to refuse to issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples in Rowan County?
The governor isnât even party to the legal challenges involved. All he was doing was informing the clerks that yes, the Supreme Court decision meant they all had to comply immediately. It wasnât the governorâs mandate, but that of SCOTUS â and they flatly denied Davisâ appeal.
Itâs nothing but Davis repeatedly refusing to obey lawful court orders and defiantly asserting that if sheâs physically able to do so, she will continue to obstruct those orders â including preventing her deputy clerks from issuing marriage licenses. The only result Davis and her attorneys have said they will accept is the one they themselves demand and no other. Ya donât get to go to court and dictate to the judge, âIâll accept your ruling, but only if it goes my way. Otherwise, shove it.â
Davis is gonna be spending at least another week or two in the pokey, I should think⌠And if her attorneys keep up with the frivolous BS, might themselves be on the receiving end of some court sanctions.
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They want to get him involved so they can try and sink his re-election campaign. There are many tentacles on this right wing octopus. Davis can rot and her âattorneysâ will call it perfume. Losers, one and all. No matter how much $$ they rake in the damage they have done to the âChristianâ cause is priceless.
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HAPPY LBOR DAY KIM.!!!
Thereâs a touch of irony to this day and KIMâŚLOL
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Or inbred friends are protesting at the home of the judge. the Cincinnati NBC affiliate h
as the story below:
Good luck with that!
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Conservatives are not rational people. âI should be granted a religious exemption!â âWhy, because youâre so special? Sorry lady, doesnât work like thatâŚâ âBut⌠I should, this goes against my conscience!â âWell, no one is forcing you to work here⌠but if you DO work here, you have to abide by the law.â âBut, but butâŚ!!â
âSorry Kim, youâre out of time and out of excuses. Whatâs that you sayâstill refuse to comply? Well, we have no choice thenâŚâ (slaps hancuffs on).
âBut, but, butâŚ!! Though even SCOTUS refused to come to my aid, my cause is righteous! Someone will come and free me⌠maybe Jaysus hisself!!â (rambles onâŚ)
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It appears that impeachment is the only sure fire way out of this problem; assuming that the GOP would go along [donât they control one of the Chambers?], which is probably not a good bet. I also understand that the Kentucky constitution has no legal mechanism for a recall. Anyway, sheâs very popular and has a lot of support in the county. Sheâs also said through her attorneys that she would not allow others to issue licenses. Right now, 5 of 6 of her clerks has agreed to issue same sex marriage licenses.
I guess she can be kept in jail for as long as 18 months on civil contempt charges. In the meantime, I donât see this going away or her getting out unless one or more of the fed âjuristsâ blinks. And Iâm not counting that out. These kinds of intolerant, self-righteous assholes seem to be able to get away with all sorts of mischief [e.g. Cliven Bundy]. Sheâll undoubtedly âthriveâ on the publicity [much of the MSM will play this up as a âDavida vs Goliathâ story], as well as on the promise of ample amounts of wing-nut welfare now and in the future [Fox News, Hate Radio, speaking engagements] and will continue to collect her $80K a year salary.
Oh what a loverly scam.
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Yes. And while the $80K figure is mentioned frequently, itâs important to remember what that means in real terms. This is in a very rural, low-income area. Her individual salary is more than double the median income in Rowan County for an entire household. Sheâs got a good thing going on, and Iâm sure she sees it as a sort of family business after all these years. So of course sheâs going to hang on to it.
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Of course they are.
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Actually, she could be re-jailed on new contempt charges if she is brought before the courts and again refuses to consent to obey the court orders.
But as for the other point, impeachment is only the most obvious way out of this. And youâre correct, not only do GOPers control part of the Kentucky legislature, theyâre also another of those âpart timeâ legislatures. They only meet a few months out of each year, and so removing Davis anytime soon would require a special session. The ainât gonna do that just for one rebellious law-breaking county clerk.
However, there is another angle possible, and thatâs by way of the complaint referred by Rowan Countyâs attorneys to the Kentucky Attorney Generalâs office, specifically on charges of official misconduct. The sections â KRS 522.020 and KRS 522.030 â related to depriving people of entitled benefits without the legal authority to do so.
It reads:
âA 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."
Emphasis added where relevant. Davis is required by law â law clarified by repeated court orders â to issue marriage licenses to all qualified applicants in Rowan County, Kentucky. She is not allowed to pick and choose whom her personal beliefs allows to marry, not if they satisfy every civil, legal requirement. She is also not allowed simply to refuse to issue marriage licenses to everyone, because in doing so, she is denying marriage rights to everyone legally entitled to such.
If charged in the first degree (which would be likely since the misconduct was not in any way inadvertent or accidental), each misdemeanor charge could carry a fine and up to a year in jail. Since Davis did this to multiple couples and defied multiple court orders, I could easily see them stacking the charges, which would potentially allow a significantly longer cumulative sentence.
Now then, if Davis is cooling her heels in jail for a significant amount of time, Rowan County would be within its rights to declare her physically incapable of performing the duties of her office, and might be able to appoint someone to be acting clerk, until the next election comes 'round. This may also provide the necessary legal justification to stop paying her the cushy salary and benefits she continues to enjoy while not doing her job.
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Right. If Kim Davis were in jail only because the Governor told her to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples, the Federal Court wouldnât have jurisdiction. It would be a state court matter.
Kim Davis is in jail because she is denying constitutional rights to same sex couples.
She has tried to be cute here by refusing to issue marriage license to all couples thereby avoiding an equal protection argument and federal court jurisdiction, but clearly the Federal judge isnât buying it (or the Sixth Circuit or the SCOTUS).
BTW, this is first year law school stuff here and her lawyers clearly know the whole governor angle is frivolous. And of course, yet another grounds for appeal. I agree that they will likely be facing Rule 11 sanctions soon.
Kim Davis will be remaining in jail until she capitulates and either agrees to issue licenses or resigns. Iâve expected this to go on for many months, but Iâm wondering if this latest very weak appeal is really a sign that Davis is cracking and the Liberty attorneys are scrambling to keep their cash cow in the barn?
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Iâve wondered, too, about potential Rule 11 sanctions, because the remarks from her attorneys â especially the ones suggesting SCOTUS doesnât have any authority to decide the constitutionality of laws â would get laughed out of any court. Moreover, they appear to be giving their client really shitty legal advice.
When a judge says âObey my order and issue marriage licenses to everyone legally entitled to receive them, or get out of the way so someone else canâ â you donât get to respond with, âNo, I can keep doing exactly what Iâm doing because God says so. Plus, Iâm going to keep filing appeals, even though all of the previous ones were denied, and as long as I keep filing appeals, you canât make me obey any orders at all.â
Itâs madness.
And this stuff about âemergency appealsâ to get Davis released immediately â presumably so she can race back to her personal county clerk fiefdom and put a stop to happy couples getting married by bullying her staff into obedience â does suggest the mindset of someone rather frantic to escape continued incarceration. I think I agree with you on that, although I suspect itâs both Davis and her attorneys. Cash cow for them, indefinite imprisonment for herâŚ
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âCash cowâ ⌠hell, just cow works for me.
Gov. Beshear is term-limited and cannot run for reelection. Just to keep the facts straight.
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