Kentucky's legal bill for defending its
constitutional amendment that excludes gay and lesbian couples from
marriage could top more than $2 million.
Former Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear,
a Democrat, hired outside counsel when his own attorney general
refused to defend the state's ban in court.
(Related: Kentucky
AG Jack Conway on decision not to defend gay marriage ban.)
According to the Courier-Journal,
the 9-lawyer team that represented plaintiffs in the case are asking
for $2,091,297 in compensation.
The losing side in civil rights cases
are required by federal law to pay the winning side's legal fees as
determined by a court.
Kentucky's case was consolidated with
similar challenges from Ohio, Michigan and Tennessee as it wound its
way to the Supreme Court. In Obergefell v. Hodges, the high
court determined that gay couples have a constitutional right to
marry.
Kentucky's tab is the second largest
among the four states behind a $2.3 million legal bill proposed by
the lawyers who represented plaintiffs who challenged Tennessee's
ban.