A panel of legal experts appearing
Monday on Fox News called on Kentucky clerk Kim Davis to do her job
or resign.
Davis, the elected clerk of Rowan
County, spent the Labor Day weekend behind bars after a federal judge
on Thursday found her in contempt for ignoring his ruling ordering
her to issue marriage licenses to all qualified couples. Davis has
said that issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples would
violate her conscience.
Davis
on Sunday appealed the judge's ruling.
“Her chances on appeal, how would you
handicap that?” Happening Now host Gregg Jarrett asked trial
attorney Chip Merlin.
“Pretty slim,” Merlin
answered. “When a judge tells you to do something … and you
refuse to do so, you can expect to be thrown in jail.”
Jarrett noted that Davis can practice
her faith “just not on the job in a way that interferes with the
legal rights of the citizens she serves.”
Criminal defense attorney Sharon Liko
called Davis “a hypocrite.”
“She's applying for the job of a
martyr. She wants to practice her faith by not issuing marriage
licenses. Yet, she will not agree to let the deputy county clerks
issue marriage licenses even if it's okay with their faith,” Liko
said.
Jarrett criticized Davis' attorney,
Liberty Counsel Chairman Mat Staver, for stating that it was
“questionable” whether the Supreme Court had the constitutional
authority to strike down state bans on gay marriage.
“[T]he Constitution gives the Supreme
Court constitutional authority to decide constitutional issues!”
Jarrett said.
“I would say it's just a ridiculously
stupid statement,” Liko said. “The Supreme Court does just that.
And they determine constitutional issues. They resolve these kinds
of disputes.”
“This woman has a choice: She can
either follow the law, she can do her job, or she can get out,” she
added.