As of September 8, Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis has been released from Carter County Detention Center on the strict condition that she not “interfere in any way, directly or indirectly, with the efforts of her deputy clerks to issue marriage licenses to all legally eligible couples. However, so long as Davis remains firm in her homophobic convictions, it’s not certain that she will comply.
Reporter Dan Griffin tweeted out the order just before 1 p.m. on September 8.
According to ThinkProgress, Davis’ deputies will be held accountable for maintaining fair and legal distribution of marriage licenses: “The lawyers for the deputies issuing licenses were…ordered to to file a ‘Status Report’ every 14 days to confirm their compliance with the order. They are forbidden from following Davis’ ‘no marriage licenses’ policy should she try to enforce it again.”
As for Davis, she will “again be held in contempt” and jailed if she continues to refuse licenses to same-sex couples.
But for the duration of her first stay, Davis seemed relatively nonplussed at the thought of a long sentence. She claimed to be “willing to stay in…jail as long as it takes for her to win back her constitutional rights not just for her but for Americans of all faiths.”
While many have condemned Davis’ actions, others—including Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee—have gathered in her support. In fact, Tuesday’s release precluded her from receiving visits from both men.
CNN reports that Huckabee “compared [Davis’] refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples to conscientious objections to slavery.”
As for Ted Cruz, well, he has made public his support of Davis’ release:
A rally, with both Cruz and Huckabee in attendance, occurs simultaneously with Davis’s release today. Huckabee’s visit and the resulting hubbub required the closure of five schools in Carter County, impacting over one thousand students.
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