The trial court’s order that Rowan County Clerk Kimberly Davis stop her “no marriage licenses” policy is due to take effect, at the latest, on Monday.
William Smith Jr., right, and his partner James Yates, second right, speak with an unnamed clerk in an attempt to obtain a marriage license at the Rowan County Courthouse in Morehead, Ky., Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015.
Timothy D. Easley / AP
WASHINGTON — The Kentucky County clerk seeking to be exempted from providing marriage licenses to same-sex couples has taken her request to the Supreme Court — which ruled in favor of same-sex couples' marriage rights in June — in a filing Friday afternoon.
Rowan County Clerk Kimberly Davis asked Justice Elena Kagan, responsible for hearing such requests from cases out of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, to issue a stay during her appeal of the trial court's decision against Davis's claim.
Earlier this month, the trial court in the case ordered that Davis stop her "no marriage licenses" policy, put in place because she objects to her name appearing on the marriage licenses of same-sex couples, as to the plaintiffs who sued her. The judge, U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning, put that ruling on hold until, at the latest, Monday.
Because of that, Davis asked Kagan to at least issue a temporary stay while her request to Kagan for a stay throughout the full appeal is considered. If Kagan is "disinclined" from granting those requests, however, Davis asks for the matter to be referred to the full Supreme Court.
On Wednesday, the 6th Circuit denied Davis's request for a stay pending appeal, leading Davis to go to the Supreme Court on Friday for relief.
"On June 26, 2015, immediately following this Court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, the Kentucky Governor ... issued a directive (the "SSM Mandate") ordering all Kentucky County Clerks to authorize same- sex "marriage" ("SSM") licenses, without exception," the lawyers for Davis write.
They go on to argue that "the SSM Mandate demands that she either fall in line (her conscience be damned) or leave office (her livelihood and job for three-decades in the clerk's office be damned)."
Additionally, in a separate filing at the trial court on Friday, Davis asks for the trial court's stay — which, at the latest, expires on Aug. 31 — to be extended until the Supreme Court resolves Friday's request.
Read the filing to Justice Elena Kagan:
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