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News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbySeptember 14th, 2015
Oh boy. It appears that Kim Davis isn’t through with her nastiness or her desire to block equality. Though she stated that she would not interfere with clerks, it now appears that she is altering the marriage licenses so as to purposefully make them invalid. Buzzfeed’s Dominic Holden has copies of the new altered format (see above).
Davis is not allowing the clerks to issue licenses as a deputy clerk at all, but instead as a notary public and while a deputy clerk likely has authority to issue licenses, a notary most certainly does not.
This will likely find her back in jail.
UPDATE: (AP)
Kentucky’s governor says the altered marriage licenses issued in Rowan County from the office of an embattled clerk are considered valid.
Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear said Monday that the licenses issued “are going to be recognized as valid in the Commonwealth.”
And that may be the end of it. I am still uncertain as to whether Beshear or anyone else is considering that the licenses are no longer being issued by anyone using their authority as deputy clerk. Perhaps the fact that they are employed by the Clerk’s office is being considered to be adequate, but signing as a notary public seems suspect to me.
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Don
September 14th, 2015
Interesting how the office and county names have been X-ed out and she has instead entered “Pursuant to Federal Court Order #15-CV-44 DLB” in their place. Changing the form entries can’t be legal. If this is what the legal counsel is advising her to do, she and her counsel should both be held in contempt for wasting the court’s time and infringing on the rights of the applicants.
Hunter
September 15th, 2015
She’s obviously trying to render the licenses invalid, and is being very sneaky about it: any suit will most likely have to go to state court, since Bunning can’t rule on the validity of the licenses, which means more time wasted before Rowan County is issuing valid marriage licenses. Of course, if the state court rules them invalid, then she goes back to jail as soon as someone gets over the Bunning’s courtroom. But I doubt she thought that far ahead.
Soren456
September 15th, 2015
Notary Public isn’t a job title. But unless Brian Mason has been fired or officially demoted, he is still a deputy and his participation validates the license—no matter what is typed beside his name, I should think.
Altering documents after the fact—if that is what she’s done—is forgery of a sort.
Timothy Kincaid
September 15th, 2015
The ACLU is concerned about the new revisions.
And it occurred to me that Mason cannot sign anything as “Notary Public” without using his stamp, recording the notarization, and getting a thumbprint (in CA, at least).
So if he’s not issuing as deputy clerk and he’s not following notary rules, then under what authority is he issuing this license?
MattNYC
September 15th, 2015
Kim is trying to have her bigot-y cake and eat it too.
I really wonder if the Governor has the power to simply declare that cross-outs on a legal document are valid. Is that the equivalent of an Executive Order? And what happens if the next governor has a different opinion?
To me, this is textbook “interference” with the process and should initiate more quality time in a jail cell (to think up her next stupid bigot trick).
MattNYC
September 15th, 2015
Also, I like how–very 5th graderish–she announced that her deputies who were complying out of fear of being locked up were free to issue licenses. Mr. Mason seems to be doing his JOB quite happily.
Nathaniel
September 15th, 2015
Not only “5th graderish,” but unChristian. If she sincerly believes in her rightness, then should should act boldly, not sub rosa:
20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
John 3:20-21
I know we have called out the Christian Right again and again for breaking their own rules to keep the gays down, so this is nothing new. But, if she is intentionally trying to sabotage the licenses in order to maintain her personal conscience, then we have yet another example of the Christian not-so-Right acting as if the ends justify the means, and we must call it out. This hypocrisy if far more important than Ms. Davis’ pre-conversion marital issues.
Priya Lynn
September 15th, 2015
“This hypocrisy if far more important than Ms. Davis’ pre-conversion marital issues.”.
Her marital issues aren’t all pre-conversion. Jesus said divorce and remarriage is adultery. Her state of adultery with her fourth husband is ongoing, it wasn’t just before her conversion.
Priya Lynn
September 15th, 2015
“This hypocrisy if far more important than Ms. Davis’ pre-conversion marital issues.”.
Her marital issues aren’t all pre-conversion. Jesus said divorce and remarriage is adultery. Her state of adultery with her fourth husband is ongoing, it wasn’t just before her conversion.
Priya Lynn
September 15th, 2015
If she doesn’t want to be a hypocrite she needs to go back to her first husband if he’ll have her or live a celibate life.
Ben M
September 15th, 2015
In many states a government official breaking the law (altering the licenses) would not void the marriages, but would cause issues for the official (Kim Davis) who is altering them. KY law says “Any county clerk who violates any of the provisions of KRS 402.110 or 402.230 shall be guilty of a violation.” KRS 402.110 requires the license to be uniform across the state and filled out by the clerk’s staff. It is possible that they will use this to remove her from office at some point. If I was one of the couples, I would petntion the local KY circuit court under 402.250 to affirm the marriage.
MattNYC
September 15th, 2015
@Ben M.
Thanks so much for that citation!
I did my best to Google, but I can’t find anything that explains the process (and suitable reasons) for removal of and replacement (until the next election) of a County Clerk in KY. Has anyone been able to track that down?
enough already
September 15th, 2015
Let’s not fool ourselves – until this hits a federal court, any decisions made by a local-yokal court will be against us.
Ditto the legislature in January. They’re going to elevate ‘religious freedom’ to ‘right to bash gays’.
I’m so tired of Christians hating us. Why can’t they just leave us alone?
Priya Lynn
September 15th, 2015
“Why can’t they just leave us alone?”.
They think gays are icky and lowly so when the court says gays are equal to heterosexuals they find it deeply offensive to be equated to people they look down on. They resent the loss of their sense of superiority.
Jean-Michel
September 15th, 2015
@enough already – This has been in federal court since the beginning, as it turns on U.S. constitutional issues (specifically the Fourteenth and First Amendments). The original ruling was issued by the U.S. District Court for Eastern Kentucky and the appeals have been heard by the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Davis has struck out every time and the Sixth Circuit Court just ruled against her request to halt licenses, on the grounds that she doesn’t have a good likelihood of winning her case.
@MattNYC – There is no way to remove a Kentucky county clerk short of impeachment, which requires a majority vote in the lower house (to start the trial) and two-thirds in the state senate (to actually convict). Suffice to say there is no way this will happen–as enough already pointed out, the legislature is likely to just change the law so county clerks won’t have to sully their hands with those icky icky gay marriages. But since the legislature doesn’t meet until January and the Governor has already ruled out a special session, we’re in for a few more months of this nonsense.
MattNYC
September 16th, 2015
@Jean-Michel
Thanks. Just out of curiosity, if a Clerk *IS* removed or resigns, what is the process for replacing? Quick Special Election or is there an appointment (and by whom) of an interim Clerk? Or do the deputies just carry on until they have a boss?
—
I wonder what happens if any of the marriages with the “doctored” licenses end in ugly divorces. I bet that someone’s lawyer is going to be pretty quick to ask that the marriage be ruled invalid from the start. THAT is why the Governor’s assurance isn’t enough to settle the matter.
MattNYC
September 16th, 2015
Another point–are ONLY the Same-Sex Marriage licenses being doctored or did she do it for all of them? If she isn’t consistent, Judge Bunning is going to have to step back in.
Jean-Michel
September 16th, 2015
@MattNYC – According to this, if Davis were to resign or be removed, the vacancy would be filled by an appointee of the county judge executive, who in this case is one Walter Blevins. He was named in the original lawsuit but has since said that he thinks Davis should just issue the licenses and end all this. Per the state constitution, whoever he appoints would hold the office until the next local or state election, at which point an election would be held for someone to serve out the remainder of Davis’ term (which runs until 2019). Presumably the earliest opportunity for such an election would be November of next year, but since I can’t find an election schedule for Rowan County, I’m not certain of this.
MattNYC
September 16th, 2015
Jean-Michel gets a Gold Star! :) Thanks so much for the info!
Dismayed to see that her salary could legally be as high as $118K for not doing her job.
If she isn’t removed/doesn’t quit and decides to run again, the problem is that she’d probably easily win in a place like that.
enough already
September 16th, 2015
Jean-Michel,thank you. I was aware of all that, but it doesn’t hurt to see iet expressed so coherently.
The basic question remains: Is this a christo-fascist theocracy or a secular, constitutional republic
The only good thing to come of this is that a lot of voters who have previously taken the attitude ‘I’m not a single-issue voter, gay rights aren’t as important as the conservative positions this or that Republican represent’are now getting a good example of just exactly what ‘voting your best interests’ really means when you have no civil rights.
NancyP
September 16th, 2015
Don’t be too sure about that. Small town people don’t necessarily appreciate a lot of outside attention involving hordes of reporters. The owners of local diners and gas stations are very happy with Davis bringing more business to town, everyone else is likely tired of her.
Timothy Kincaid
September 16th, 2015
Kim Davis is a Democrat. Judge Bunning is a Republican.
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