A federal appeals court on Wednesday
said that a Kentucky county clerk must issue marriage licenses to gay
and lesbian couples.
Kim Davis, the clerk of Rowan County,
is among the handful of Kentucky clerks who are defying the Supreme
Court's ruling striking down marriage bans in all 50 states.
Following the high court's June ruling,
Davis pledged never to issue a marriage license to a gay couple,
saying it would be a violation of her Christian faith.
Rather than serve gay couples, Davis
stopped issuing marriage licenses to all couples.
The American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU) of Kentucky filed a lawsuit against Davis on behalf of four
couples, two of which are gay.
After U.S. District Judge David L.
Bunning ruled against Davis and ordered her to comply with the
Supreme Court's decision, Davis, who is represented by the Christian
conservative Liberty Counsel, turned to the Sixth Circuit Court of
Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio.
In denying Davis' request for a stay
pending her appeal, the court said that she was unlikely to prevail.
“It cannot be defensibly argued that
the holder of the Rowan County clerk's office, apart from who
personally occupies that office, may decline to act in conformity
with the United States Constitution as interpreted by a dispositive
holding of the United States Supreme Court,” Judges Damon J. Keith,
John M. Rogers and Bernice B. Donald wrote for the court. “There
is thus little or no likelihood that the clerk in her official
capacity will prevail on appeal.”
Newsweek
reported that Mat Staver, head of Liberty Counsel, planned to discuss
options with Davis, including an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.