Kim Davis Is The Latest In A Long Line Of Wrong

Instead of Rosa Parks, the more apt comparison for Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis may be with her predecessors on the wrong side of history, like Ben Franklin's son, the anti-suffragettes, and George Wallace. This piece is not a long read, but there are a couple of fascinating moments in history that reflect of the Davis situation today.

 

Now It's the Governor's Fault

The Kim Davis comedy just keeps getting stranger. In today's press release, Liberty Counsel blames Kentucky Governor Beshear for their client's incarceration.

 “From the outset of this case, Kim Davis has proposed numerous simple options to protect her sincerely-held religious beliefs. These less-restrictive solutions are readily available, and easily accomplished by the Governor and the state agency responsible for designing the revised marriage form at issue in this litigation. The Governor’s refusal to take elementary steps to protect religious liberties has now landed Kim Davis in jail. As a prisoner of her conscience, Davis continues to request a simple accommodation and exemption from the Governor.”

The Best Thing You'll Read About Kim Davis All Day

From Jonathan Turley:

Davis has said that “[t]o issue a marriage license which conflicts with God’s definition of marriage, with my name affixed to the certificate, would violate my conscience.” While clerks do “sign off” on certificates, that is not a discretionary function. Their signature confirms compliance with the dictates of the law, not personal moral dictates. They cannot deny certificates to those who are legally qualified to receive them.

Davis may have had a principled position in previously declining to issue these licenses while the courts considered the merits of the question. Similarly, clerks who believed that there was a legal basis to issue such licenses based on lower court decisions would claim a principled stand. However, that debate ended the minute the box holding the Obergefell opinions was opened in the Supreme Court clerk’s office on June 26. 

And the Irony Continues

Liberty Counsel wants you to know incarcerated Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis doesn't have a Twitter account and that a "letter" associated with that account is a fake.  OK, sure, I guess the use of fake social media accounts to comment on public issues could be news to the 5 or 6 people in America unfamiliar with social media. Asking for that account to be shut down seems a bit rich coming from a legal firm that touts its dedication to free speech and exercise of religion, but again, there's enough constitutional latitude to accommodate that degree of duplicity.

But when the Liberty Counsel guys put this out there in their press release, it's over the top. After all, Ms Davis is currently in jail because she judged the what she imagines to be sinful behavior taking place in the privacy of a couple's bedroom.

We ask that the media and the public respect the privacy of Kim’s family and church. 

Asking for special consideration for Ms Davis does seem to be the common thread running through this soap opera.  

Ruling Class Member Mike Huckabee Complains About Ruling Class

In possibly the most un-selfconscious statement in his long career of un-selfconconscious statements, Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee wants to know why failure to enforce an unconstitutional law is okay for the "ruling class" he wants to be part of, but a county clerk in Kentucky who defies a court order is in jail. 

“Why people are so angry across the country not just on this issue but on others is that the ruling class has thumbed their very nose at the Constitution.”

Maybe the former Arkansas governor (there's that "ruling class" again) should consider his own statement from a few weeks ago. 

 "Being offended is a full-time job for many. It's a tedious task, for it requires enormous amounts of imagination and creativity, [and] relentless pursuit of an audience willing to swallow the notion of the offense." - Mike Huckabee 2015

There Seems to Be a Adult in the GOP Race

Republican Presidential candidate John Kasich comments on the Kim Davis incarceration.

“The court has spoken, the court has ruled,” said the Ohio governor, who opposes same-sex marriage but has attended a same-sex wedding, on ABC’s “This Week.”

“I respect the fact that the lady doesn’t agree, but she’s also a government employee—she’s not running a church,” Mr. Kasich said. “I think she has to comply.”

In Which Liberty Counsel Compares Kim Davis to Martin Luther King

Liberty Counsel has a new press release that compares Kim Davis to actual civil rights leaders, like Martin Luther King, Jr.

 Because, I guess, being jailed while peacefully demonstrating for the extension of civil rights to a minority is identical to being jailed for refusing to do your sworn duty mostly because you're a terrible theologian.

 Kim joins a long list of people who were imprisoned for their conscience. People who today we admire like Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, Jan Huss, John Bunyan, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and more. 

Tony Perkins Weighs In On Kim Davis

"I think he was trying to make an example of Kim Davis, and he may well do so," said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, which lobbies against gay marriage. "Courage breeds courage, especially when it comes from unlikely places. She may be the example that sparks a firestorm of resistance across this country."

"A firestorm of resistance" summons images of hundreds of clerks going to jail for their sincerely held refusal to keep their oath of office and support the Constitution of the United States. Better build more prisons, I guess.

But in the meantime, this solitary example of a woman guided by attorneys from the activist Liberty Counsel group (none of whom are sharing a jail cell with their victim client) takes people's attention away from Tony's last Executive Director, wannabe adulterer and serial sister-molester, Josh Duggar.

So there's an upside.

Todd Starnes Needs To Slip Into Some Dry Panties

I truly believe Judge Bunning wanted to intimidate Christians and send a very clear message – that resistance to same-sex marriage will not be tolerated -- doing with the gavel what Bull Connor tried to do with dogs and fire hoses.

Of course it is, except the issue here is extending civil rights, there's no violence being committed against a minority, the action taken is to correct illegal behavior by a public official, and the Bull Connor figure here is Kim Davis, not the gay couples whose rights she denied.

Otherwise, spot on, Todd.