$0 and then $100,000: 2 juries split on same-sex duo suing Christian clerk
Kim Davis
One of two juries deliberating "damages" to be paid by former Rowan County, Kentucky, clerk Kim Davis has returned a verdict of zero dollars.
A report from Liberty Counsel, which has been working on Davis' case for a number of years, revealed Wednesday that the jury hearing the Yates v. Davis case "returned a verdict of zero damages."
The plaintiffs had sought $300,000 in the trial before the leftist Judge David Bunning, who, when the dispute arose, ordered Davis to jail.
She was caught in a quandary when the Supreme Court created, in a ruling "untethered" to the Constitution, the status of same-sex "marriage" all across the country.
When that order came down, of course, many state laws still prohibited those licenses.
It was during that confused period that several same-sex duos, hearing of Davis' Christian faith and opposition to same-sex "marriage," bypassed other jurisdictions where they could have gotten licenses and targeted her in what has been described as a case of "shaming."
The Yates jury took only 45 minutes to make a decision.
Liberty Counsel explained, "The Ermold and Yates cases each involve a same-sex couple who sued Davis in 2015 following the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision regarding 'same-sex marriage.' The district court entered judgment against Davis in both cases, holding that she is personally liable to the plaintiffs by not issuing marriage licenses during the pendency of her request for religious accommodation."
What Davis had done during that time frame is ask for a religious exemption to a requirement that her name be on those certificates. The Democrat who was governor refused, but that shortly later was granted by a new, Republican, governor, and codified by the state legislature.
During the interim, she declined to issue any certificates, so as not to discriminate against anyone.
Liberty Counsel said it argued that, "Davis is not liable for any damages because she was entitled to a religious accommodation from issuing marriage licenses under her name and authority that conflict with her religious beliefs. When the newly elected Republican Governor Matt Bevin took office in December 2015, he granted religious accommodation to all clerks by Executive Order. Then in April 2016, the legislature unanimously granted religious and conscience accommodation to all clerks from issuing marriage licenses that conflict with their religious beliefs."
Further, there were no damages because the plaintiffs could have gotten their documentation from any nearby clerk's office.
"We are grateful and relieved that one of the two juries has provided Kim Davis with the complete vindication that she has been waiting for so long to receive. We are prayerfully awaiting the result from the second jury," said Harry Mihet, chief litigation counsel for Liberty Counsel.
The organization has promised to take the case to the Supreme Court, if necessary.
There, it would seek protection for Davis as well as a ruling that would overturn the original same-sex-promoting Obergefell decision, in favor of returning that jurisdiction to states, as the Supreme Court already has done with abortion.
In fact, three of the five leftist judges on the Supreme Court who created same-sex "marriage" no longer are there.
David Bunning is the judge who earlier sent Davis to jail when she declined to issue marriage certificates, any marriage certificates, under her name when the Supreme abruptly created same-sex "marriages" at a time when state laws remained that banned that status.
In fact, the U.S. Constitution doesn't mention marriage, and it specifically allows such issues to be regulated by states through the 10th Amendment.
Leftists on the Supreme Court like Ruth Ginsburg, however, went ahead and unleashed their ideological Obergefell ruling while the court admitted it had no connection to the Constitution.
A jury hearing the second case, Ermold v. Davis, came down with an award of $100,000, Liberty Counsel said. The award faces an appeal.
Liberty Counsel said the award was suspect as the plaintiffs alleged David Ermold was terminated from the University of Pikeville because of the case, but the school's human resource director testified that was not true.
The plaintiffs then claimed they deserved damages for "hurt feelings," Liberty Counsel said.
"This Ermold jury verdict is unsound and easily sets this case up for an eventual route to the U.S. Supreme Court where religious freedom will be central to the argument along with the continued validity of the 2015 case of Obergefell v. Hodges," Liberty Counsel explained.
Liberty Counsel chief Mat Staver said, "We look forward to appealing this decision and taking this case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Kim Davis has blazed the trail in Kentucky where she has obtained religious freedom for all clerks. Now it is time to extend that freedom to everyone, and that is what Liberty Counsel intends to do."
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