Roy Exum
Over 250 people gathered near Morehead, Ky., on Saturday to solemnly pray for the jail release of Kim Davis. She’s the Rowan County Court Clerk who refused to issue a marriage license to a gay couple and, after she did, two important things happened. A judge put her in jail – where she now sits in an orange jumpsuit – and the little town in northeastern Kentucky became a political field-of-opportunity to match its deep and rich coal fields.
Kim, 47 years old and a registered Democrat, stands firm in her belief that such same-sex unions go counter to her religious beliefs and, while three marriage licenses have been issued by her assistants since she was incarcerated on Thursday, the Court Clerk is saying those licenses are not valid because law states she must be present.
At Saturday’s prayer meeting, Grayson Mayor George Steele welcomed all who attended – including 15 police officers -- "in the name of Jesus and the name of God," as her supporters lofted signs that read, “Freedom of Religion," "Kim Davis for president" and "Free Kim Davis!"
Her attorney, Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel, said his client is prepared to go the distance.
“She's not going to resign, she's not going to sacrifice her conscience, so she's doing what Martin Luther King Jr. wrote about in his ‘Letter from the Birmingham Jail,’ which is to pay the consequences for her decision," he said.
Staver is planning an appeal of U.S. District Judge David Bunning’s contempt charge while politicians across the entire country are taking sides in what could be a dramatic outcome. So let’s check in with some people who are riding the issue faster than a horse in the fabled Kentucky Derby, this list of the 2016 Presidential candidates largely compiled by the website ijreview.com:
THOSE WHO SUPPORT KIM DAVIS’S STAND
TEXAS SENATOR TED CRUZ – “I stand with Kim Davis. Unequivocally. I stand with every American that the Obama Administration is trying to force to choose between honoring his or her faith or complying with a lawless court opinion.”
FORMER ARKANSAS GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE – “I’m headed to Kentucky on Tuesday to stand with Kim Davis. We must end the criminalization of Christianity! What a world – where Hillary Clinton isn’t in jail but Kim Davis is.” (Note: Huckabee is also an ordained Southern Baptist pastor.)
LOUISIANA GOV. BOBBY JINDAL – “The United States did not create religious liberty. Religious liberty created the United States. It is the reason we are here today. This is an essential freedom and an essential right and I don’t think you give up this right by simply taking a (Court Clerk) job.”
KY. SENATOR RAND PAUL – “I think it’s absurd to put someone in jail for exercising their religious liberty. I think it’s a real mistake and even those on the other side of the issue, I think it sets their movement back … What’s going to happen is it’s going to harden people’s resolve on this issue. I think what’s going to happen is that state and localities are just going to opt out of the marriage business.”
FLORIDA SENATOR MARCO RUBIO – “We should seek a balance between government’s responsibility to abide by the laws of our Republic and allowing people to stand by their religious beliefs. While the clerk’s office has a governmental duty to carry out the law, there should be a way to protect the religious freedom and conscience rights of individuals working in that office.”
FORMER PA. SENATOR RICK SANTORUM – “More and more people will face the penalties Ms. Davis is now encountering if we do not make the necessary accommodations so people cannot just worship, but live out their faith in their lives.”
WISCONSIN GOV. SCOTT WALKER – “In the end, this is the balance that you gotta’ have in America, between the laws that are out there, but ultimately ensuring that the Constitution is upheld. I read that he Constitution is very clear that people have freedom of religion – you have the freedom to practice religious beliefs out there. I just think that’s a fundamental right.”
THOSE WHO OPPOSE KIM DAVIS’S STAND
FORMER FLA. GOV. JEB BUSH – “She is sworn to uphold the law, and it seems to me there ought to be enough common ground, there ought to be a big enough space, for her to act on her conscience and … for a gay couple to be married in whatever jurisdiction that is.”
NEW JERSEY GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE – “We have to protect religious liberty … of course, we have to enforce the law, too. What I have said before is for someone who works in the government has a bit of a different obligation than someone who works in the private sector.”
SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON – “Marriage equality is the law of the land. Officials should be held to their duty to uphold the law—end of story.”
CARLY FIORINA – “Is (Ms. Davis) prepared to continue to work for the government, be paid by the government? In which case she needs to execute the government’s will. Or, does she feel so strongly about this that she wants to … go seek employment elsewhere?”
SOUH CAROLINA SENATOR LINDSAY GRAHAM – “As a public official, comply with the law or resign. The rule of law is the rule of law … I support traditional marriage, but she’s accepted a job where she has to apply the law to everyone.”
DONALD TRUMP – “You have to go with it. The decision’s been made, and that is the law of the land.”
UNDECIDED ABOUT KIM DAVIS
DR. BEN CARSON – The candidate has made no official comment. A spokesperson said, “Dr. Carson has said since the Supreme Court ruling it is the law of the land and that’s what he respects” but his website states, “We need to reverse the recent trend of secular progressives using activist, federal judges to drive faith out of our society. Anyone who wishes to practice their faith, for example by praying privately, can and should be able to do so. Equally, the rights of someone to abstain from private prayer should also be jealously protected. The First Amendment enshrines our freedom to practice whatever faith we choose from any government intrusion. Our Founding Fathers never meant for the First Amendment to be used to drive prayer out of the public square.”
VERMONT SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS – He has not yet responded to numerous requests.
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