Assignment on Issues Management Exercise

 
Issues Management Exercise
The U.S. Supreme Court declares in June 2015 that all Americans have a constitutional right to marriage, including same-sex couples.
Kim Davis, clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, repeatedly defied a court order to issue licenses to all eligible couples, gay or straight, citing religious objections to same sex marriage.
The confrontation sets up an Issues Management challenge, pitting the constitutional right to marriage equality against the constitutional right to religious freedom.
Issues Management Exercise
Federal Judge Orders Kentucky Clerk Released From Jail
Kim Davis jailed Thursday for refusal to issue marriage licenses in gay-marriage dispute
By
Arian Campo-Flores
The Wall Street Journal
 
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered that a Kentucky county clerk who had refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples be released from jail and forbade her from interfering with her deputies, who have been providing licenses since Friday.
U.S. District Judge David Bunning jailed Kim Davis, the Rowan County clerk, for contempt last week after she repeatedly defied his order to issue licenses to all eligible couples, gay or straight. He then secured a commitment from five of her deputy clerks that they would grant the licenses in her absence. The deputies began issuing them on Friday.
On Tuesday, a group of plaintiffs who had sued Ms. Davis filed a report confirming that they had succeeded in obtaining licenses, prompting Judge Bunning to order Ms. Davis released.
The court is therefore satisfied that the Rowan County Clerks Office is fulfilling its obligation to issue marriage licenses to all legally eligible couples, consistent with the U.S. Supreme Courts holding in June, declaring a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, Judge Bunning wrote.
But he issued a warning to Ms. Davis. She shall not interfere in any way, directly or indirectly, with the efforts of her deputy clerks to issue marriage licenses to all legally eligible couples, Judge Bunning wrote. If she should interfere in any way with their issuance, that will be considered a violation of this Order and appropriate sanctions will be considered.
Attorneys at Liberty Counsel, the nonprofit law firm representing Ms. Davis, welcomed the judges order. She can never recover the past six days of her life spent in an isolated jail cell, where she was incarcerated like a common criminal because of her conscience and religious convictions, said chairman Mathew Staver. She is now free to return to her family, her co-workers and the office where she has faithfully served for the past 27 years.
Issues Management Exercise
But Mr. Staver didnt address whether Ms. Davis would comply with Judge Bunnings order. In a hearing before the judge last week, she turned down an offer from the judge to be released from custody if she agreed to allow her deputies to issue licenses.
After one of her deputies began providing licenses to couples on Friday, substituting his name for hers, Ms. Daviss lawyers maintained that the documents werent valid because they werent granted under her authority. Theyre not worth the paper that they are written on, Mr. Staver said.
Randy Smith, a Rowan County pastor who has been organizing rallies in support of Ms. Davis, said he believed she would remain firm in her stance. If I know Kim, shell be back in jail before long, he said.
On Monday, Ms. Daviss attorneys sought to secure her release by filing an emergency motion with the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. It requested that Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear accommodate her religious convictions by exempting her from his order earlier this year that the states county clerks follow the Supreme Courts ruling and issue marriage licenses to all couples. Mr. Beshear said in July that any clerks whose beliefs prevented them from issuing licenses should consider resigning.
Ms. Daviss release came on the same day two Republican presidential contendersformer Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas were scheduled to visit her at the Carter County Detention Center in Grayson, Ky.
Mr. Huckabee was planning to hold a rally Tuesday afternoon to protest her jailing. Having Kim Davis in federal custody removes all doubt of the criminalization of Christianity in our country, he said in a news release.
Ms. Daviss case has galvanized religious conservatives around the country who oppose the Supreme Courts gay-marriage decision. A large crowd was gathered outside the jail on Tuesday afternoon.