Edited 8/19/2015:
Judge Benning has now issued a "temporary stay" of his own injunction order, which will expire 8/31/2015.
Well, here we are again: writing about Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis, who is embroiled in lawsuits because she refuses to do her job.
If you recall from last week's Kim Davis post, a federal trial court granted an injunction against the Rowan County clerk on August 12 for enforcing a 'no marriage license' policy in order to avoid granting licenses to same-sex couples. By August 13, she was already back in her office, refusing to issue marriage licenses.
Now it seems the same judge who granted the injunction is giving Davis a little leeway.
From The New Civil Rights Movement:
"[U.S. District Judge David Bunning] refused to stay his decision, but gave Davis time to file an appeal with the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. That's the same Court that created a constitutional conflict when it ruled Michigan had the right to deny same-sex couples the right to marry, sending four cases off to the Supreme Court. Those cases were combined and decided in June when the Supreme Court ruled same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marriage.
It's unknown when the 6th Circuit will rule on Davis' appeal."
Judge Benning rationalized his decision by saying that "emotions are running high on both sides of the debate". We wonder if that is a good enough reason when others' civil rights are involved.
***
Whenever we post something about Kim Davis, we often hear the same questions: "Why doesn't she just quit?" and "Why don't they just fire her?"
According to the AP, the answer to the first question is that the Rowan County clerk position pays $80,000 per year in a county which has a per capita money income of $20,912, according the U.S. Census.
The answer to the second is that Davis can only be impeached from her position by the Kentucky legislature, which does not reconvene until January. However, she still faces "fines and possible jail time for contempt of court if she loses her challenge and still refuses to issue licenses".