Lawyer: Clerk may have interfered with order on gay marriage

(AP) — A Kentucky county clerk may have again defied a federal judge's order regarding gay-marriage licenses by altering license forms to remove her name, an attorney who represents one of the clerk's employees told the judge Friday in a court filing.

Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis spent five days in jail for refusing to obey a federal judge's ruling that she issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court decision that effectively legalized gay marriage nationwide.

U.S. District Judge David Bunning released Davis from jail on the condition that she not interfere with her employees as they issue marriage licenses.

[...] Friday, the attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union said in a court filing that the changes on the form require Mason to issue the licenses "in his capacity as a 'notary public' rather than a deputy clerk of the Rowan County Clerk's Office," changes that "do not comply" with the court's order to not interfere with her employees who issue the licenses.

Davis' attorney said this new form, if OK with the judge, would solve the problem because gay couples would have a marriage license and Davis would have a clear conscience.

Mason is the only employee in Davis' office who has said he does not object to issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.