In what can only be described as a blatant miscarriage of justice, a federal jury has penalized Kim Davis, a former county clerk who stood firmly grounded in her religious convictions.
In a shocking judgment, a jury in Ashland, Kentucky, has awarded a staggering $100,000 to a gay couple who Mrs. Davis denied a marriage license in Rowan County.
In 2015, Davis, the then Rowan County clerk, garnered international attention when Judge David Bunning briefly incarcerated her for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, a stance she justified based on her religious belief that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.
Davis and her legal team made several appeals, including attempts to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. However, the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from Davis’ lawyers in 2020.
In a bizarre twist, David Ermold and David Moore were awarded a hefty sum of $50,000 each. At the same time, another couple involved in the lawsuit, James Yates and Will Smith, walked away empty-handed, clearly indicating the inconsistency that permeated the trial.
David Ermold would later run an unsuccessful campaign for the position of clerk of Rowan County in 2018, a position that was eventually secured by another Democrat, marking the end of Davis’ tenure in office.
Back in 2015, Judge Bunning had held Davis in contempt of court, resulting in a five-day jail term. Davis was released only after her office issued the required licenses, albeit without her name on the forms.
This incident spurred the Kentucky state legislature to enact a law that subsequently removed the names of all county clerks from state marriage licenses to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Mat Staver, founder of the Liberty Counsel representing Davis, expressed disappointment at the verdict, stating in a release on Wednesday that they “look forward to appealing this decision and taking this case to the U.S. Supreme Court.”
