Kim Davis

By February 2019, Governor Bevin formally rejected the idea of Kentucky bearing the $222,000 financial responsibility, insisting the amount should be paid by Kim Davis alone. "Only Davis refused to comply with the law" Bevin stated through his attorneys, insisting taxpayers "should not have to collectively bear the financial responsibility for Davis's intransigence." U.S. District Judge David L. Bunning issued a preliminary injunction ordering Davis's office to resume issuing marriage licenses. Bunning also ordered the state of Kentucky to pay her legal fees, writing that "Davis represented the Commonwealth of Kentucky when she refused to issue marriage licenses to legally eligible couples. The buck stops there." Local reporting acknowledged that Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin had previously backed her refusal to issue same-sex marriage licenses. On August 23, 2019, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati upheld Bunning's decision ordering Kentucky to pay the $225,000 legal bill from the Kim Davis case.

Davis announced that she would run for reelection in 2018 as a Republican. Davis did not face any challengers in the Republican primary. Four Democrats ran in the May 2018 primary with the winner being Rowan County Assistant Property Valuation Administrator Elwood Caudill Jr., whom Davis narrowly defeated in the Democratic primary in 2014. One of the Democrats Caudill defeated was David Ermold, who had been denied a marriage license by Davis and then filed suit against her. Davis lost her reelection campaign on November 6, 2018 when she was defeated by Caudill in the general election by a little over 8 percentage points.

In July 2017, Davis was again sued for failing to issue a marriage license. The plaintiff, Mark Sevier , Vanderbilt University Law School graduate, was denied a license to marry a laptop computer. A similar Florida lawsuit was dismissed in May.

Reactions against Davis also came from the White House, from Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, and from candidates in the race for the 2016 presidential election. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said, "No public official is above the rule of law. Certainly not the president of the United States, but neither is the Rowan County clerk." Governor Beshear said the judge's decision "speaks for itself", while his attorneys called the legal arguments in her suit against him "absurd". Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said, "Officials should be held to their duty to uphold the law – end of story." Several Republican presidential candidates also called on Davis to comply with court orders. Donald Trump said, "the decision's been made, and that is the law of the land." Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, said Davis "is sworn to uphold the law", but also suggested that some sort of accommodation be made for her. Republican presidential candidates Carly Fiorina and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina both suggested that Davis should comply with the court order or resign. Members of the Westboro Baptist Church protested against Davis for her multiple divorces and marriages, saying she is living in adultery. Westboro also stated "God hates oath breakers", therefore Davis is obligated to follow the nation's law.

In March 2016, the Campaign for Accountability (CfA), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group, made a request to Davis for access to public records under the Kentucky Open Records Act, seeking copies of retainer agreements and lawyer-client engagement agreements between Davis and her attorneys at Liberty Counsel. Liberty Counsel, which responded to the request on Davis's behalf, refused to comply, arguing that the documents were preliminary and private records are not subject to the Act. CfA appealed to the Office of the Kentucky Attorney General, which under Kentucky law has the authority to make binding rulings on the Open Records Act, and resubmitted its request to Davis's office in April 2016. The Attorney General's Office sought to privately review the records at issue to determine if an exemption applied, but Liberty Counsel refused to make most of the documents available for a private review. In an opinion issued on June 30, 2016, the Attorney General's Office determined that Davis had violated the Open Records Act, saying that her conduct had the effect of "intentionally frustrating the attorney general's review of an open records request" which "would subvert the General Assembly's intent behind providing review by the attorney general."

Davis took the oath of office as the county clerk of Rowan County on January 5 , 2015, beginning a four-year term slated to end on January 7 , 2019. As clerk in 2015, Davis received an annual salary of $80,000 (equivalent to $86,289 in 2019).

On June 26 , 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case of Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. ___ (2015), holding that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Fourteen counties in three Southern states continued to deny marriage licenses for same-sex marriage. The Alabama Supreme Court allowed the probate judges of ten counties in Alabama to deny such marriage licenses, the clerk of one Texas county chose to resign rather than issue such licenses, and the clerks of two counties in Kentucky were not issuing licenses due to paperwork delays. Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear ordered all Kentucky county clerks to begin issuing same-sex marriage licenses immediately.

Davis contacted Beshear, asking for an executive order to protect clerks who have moral objections against personally issuing such marriage licenses, as Kentucky law requires county clerks to issue marriage licenses in their names. She began turning away gay couples from her county office who were seeking marriage licenses. David Ermold and David Moore, a same-sex couple from Morehead, Kentucky and alumni of Morehead State University, released video footage on July 7, 2015 of Davis refusing to issue them a marriage license and requesting that they turn off their camera. The video went viral overnight.

The Family Foundation of Kentucky, a local political organization, held a protest rally against the ruling at the State Capitol in Frankfort on August 22, 2015, attended by several thousand people. The clerks of the two other Kentucky counties declined to speak to the rally crowd, but Davis spoke briefly, saying, "I need your prayers ... to continue to stand firm in what we believe." At a competing event several blocks away organized by the Fairness Campaign of Louisville, attendees celebrated the Supreme Court's decision and called upon government officials to uphold the law.

Six couples who were denied marriage licenses from Davis sued her in her official capacity as county clerk. Four couples were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Kentucky and two couples each had separate legal representation. The four couples represented by the ACLU, two same-sex couples and two opposite-sex couples, filed the first lawsuit against Davis (Miller v. Davis) on July 2, 2015. On July 10, 2015, David Ermold and David Moore (who had shot the viral video) next filed suit against Davis, represented by Joseph Buckles and Thomas Szczygielski (Ermold v. Davis); James Yates and William Smith Jr., represented by Rene Heinrich of the Heinrich Firm PLLC and Kash Stilz of Roush & Stilz PSC, filed a suit against Davis on August 25, 2015 (Yates v. Davis).

Liberty Counsel and Davis filed an emergency application to appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court. On August 31, 2015, in a one-line order, the Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal, preventing Davis from legally continuing to deny marriage licenses. In response to the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to grant her stay request, Davis stated:

Davis returned to work a week later, on September 14 , 2015. She said that, while she would not interfere with any deputy clerk who issues marriage licenses, she would not personally issue or authorize any of the forms. She created several altered versions of the Kentucky marriage license form and instructed her deputy clerks to use them, which had her name and reference to the clerk's office removed. The ACLU sued Davis separately for these form alterations, which they found to be of questionable legality. Governor Steve Beshear was asked by Bunning to brief the court on the validity of the licenses. Governor Beshear acknowledged that Kentucky would recognize the licenses being issued, but he could not verify the legality of the licenses issued or the means by which the marriage licenses were altered. Bunning ultimately denied the ACLU's separate suit, stating the altered forms were likely legal and that Davis was now abiding by the court's order.

Several national Republican politicians supported Davis. Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, said that the Kim Davis affair was part of a "criminalization of Christianity" and organized a rally for Davis outside the jail where she had been held. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, another Republican presidential candidate, said that Davis was a victim of "judicial tyranny" and attended the same rally. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, also presidential candidates, both voiced their support for Davis. Matt Bevin, the Republican nominee for Kentucky governor in the 2015 election, said a simple solution to Davis's plight is for the government to stop providing marriage contracts.

A survey of American adults conducted by YouGov in September 2015 found that 56% supported Judge Bunning's decision to jail Davis for contempt of court, while 31% of Americans opposed the decision. When asked what Davis should do, 65% said that Davis should resign from office; 23% said that Davis should stay in office and continue to refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples; and 4% said that Davis should remain in office but issue licenses to all persons legally entitled to one.

One of the first acts of newly elected Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin was an executive order to remove clerks' names from the state marriage licenses. Bevin expressed his hope on November 6, 2015, that the executive order will protect the religious beliefs of officials who are opposed to gay marriage. Kim Davis and her attorneys at Liberty Counsel immediately requested that the court dismiss her appeals, because the new regulation provides a religious accommodation for her and makes the case moot. Bunning agreed, dismissing the three lawsuits filed against her, saying the new governor's order to use a license form that does not require the county clerk's signature has removed the controversy before the court. One of the plaintiff couples who were denied marriage licenses from Davis contacted Bunning, requesting they be allowed to recoup $230,000 in legal fees. Davis's attorneys asserted that their legislative victory resolves the matter; the couples did not prevail against Davis, therefore they are not entitled to demand that Davis reimburse their legal fees. Separately, Rowan County filed a response contending that the county government should never have to pay for the actions of a single county clerk. Then, by May 2017, a Cincinnati federal appeals court found that Bunning had erred in finding that damages claims by plaintiff couple David Ermold and David Moore became moot, saying, "The district court's characterization of this case as simply contesting the 'no marriage licenses' policy is inaccurate, because Ermold and Moore did not seek an injunction—they sought only damages"; observing that the record does not prevent damages claims. The three-judge panel granted leave for the couple to sue for damages over one marriage license. Their case was sent back to Bunning, where he stated that the state of Kentucky was obligated to pay $222,000 in legal fees. The ACLU itself sued Davis to recover $233,000 in legal fees, but the motion was denied; the organization was not a "prevailing party" in the legal action.

Within a few weeks of Davis's release from jail, Davis announced she and her husband had met with Pope Francis on September 24, 2015, at the Apostolic Nunciature to the United States in Washington, D.C., during the Pope's U.S. visit in September 2015. According to Davis and her lawyer, the pope told Davis to "stay strong" and gave her two rosaries. Vaticanist John L. Allen Jr. said that "there's no way to view the encounter other than as a broad gesture of support by the pope for conscientious objection from gay marriage laws" and that the gesture strengthened the hand of those who defend religious freedom.

Davis was the subject of numerous satirical works following her burst of media attention in 2015. Books, social media profiles, and videos have been created that parody Davis's refusal to issue marriage licenses in Kentucky. A Twitter account with more than 90,000 followers and run by comedian Dave Colan mocks Davis with humorous tweets supposedly from a woman who "Sits Next to Kim Davis". Funny or Die made a Mashup video featuring characters from Parks and Recreation that spoofs Davis's refusal to issue marriage licenses and parodies her meeting with Pope Francis. Author Lilith St. Augustine wrote Kim Goes To Jail: An Erotic Story, an erotic novella featuring Davis in a fictional role. La Strega Entertainment created a satirical music video sung to the tune of the "Major-General's Song" from Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance. Saturday Night Live cast member Aidy Bryant portrayed Davis during the show's season 41 premiere. Actress Jennifer Lawrence, in the December 2015 issue of Vogue, told Jonathan Van Meter that Kim Davis is a "lady that makes me embarrassed to be from Kentucky."

Davis was elected Rowan County Clerk in 2014. The following year, the Supreme Court decided Obergefell v. Hodges, and all county clerks in Kentucky were ordered to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Citing personal religious objections to same-sex marriage, Davis began denying marriage licenses to all couples to avoid issuing them to same-sex couples. A lawsuit, Miller v. Davis, was filed, and Davis was ordered by the U.S. District Court to start issuing marriage licenses. She appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the application to appeal was denied. Davis continued to defy the court order by refusing to issue marriage licenses "under God's authority"; she was ultimately jailed for contempt of court. Davis was released after five days in jail under the condition that she not interfere with the efforts of her deputy clerks, who had begun issuing marriage licenses to all couples in her absence. Davis then modified the Kentucky marriage licenses used in her office so that they no longer mentioned her name.

After her mother announced she would not run for re-election in 2014, Davis filed as a Democratic candidate for county clerk. At a candidates' forum, Davis stated she felt she was best qualified for the position because of her 26 years of experience in the clerk's office.

—Kerry B. Harvey, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky

Davis says she experienced a religious awakening in 2011, following her mother-in-law's dying wish that she attend church. Since then Davis has identified herself as a Christian, belonging to the Apostolic Pentecostal movement, which favors what they describe as a literal interpretation of the Bible. She worships three times a week at the Solid Rock Apostolic Church near Morehead. Following her conversion, Davis let her hair grow long, stopped wearing makeup and jewelry, and began wearing skirts and dresses that fall below the knee, in keeping with Apostolic Pentecostal tenets regarding outward holiness and modest dress. She also held a weekly Bible study for female inmates at the local jail. In an interview in January 2016, Davis said that she believed that "we are living in end times." Davis also expressed her view that the Bible is infallible.

Davis has been married four times to three husbands. The first three marriages ended in divorce in 1994, 2006, and 2008. Davis has two daughters from her first marriage and twins, a son and another daughter, who were born five months after her divorce from her first husband. Her third husband is the biological father of the twins. They were adopted by her current husband, Joe Davis, who was also her second husband; he supports her stance against same-sex marriage. Davis's son Nathan works in her office as a deputy clerk and has taken the same position of denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Shortly after the same-sex marriage license controversy, Davis said she and her husband switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party.

Kimberly Jean Davis (née  Bailey; born September 17, 1965) is a former county clerk for Rowan County, Kentucky who gained international attention in August 2015 when she defied a U.S. federal court order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. She was defeated by Democratic challenger Elwood Caudill Jr. in the November 6, 2018 election and vacated the office on January 7, 2019.

Kim Davis was born on September 17, 1965, in Jackson, Kentucky. By 1991, she was serving as chief deputy clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, reporting to her mother, Rowan County Clerk Jean W. Bailey. Davis's 2011 compensation was $51,812 (equivalent to $58,886 in 2019) in wages with an additional $11,301 (equivalent to $12,844 in 2019) in overtime and other compensation. She earned more than other chief deputies in the county, and some county employees and residents complained to the county's governing body, the Fiscal Court, that the clerk's staff's wages were too high, with total compensation for five employees being about $198,000. The Fiscal Court then voted to cut the 2012 budget for wages from $300,000 to $200,000.

Davis's actions drew strong and mixed reactions from prominent politicians, legal experts, and religious leaders. Attorney and author Roberta A. Kaplan described Davis as "the clearest example of someone who wants to use a religious liberty argument to discriminate", while law professor Eugene Volokh maintained that an employer must try to accommodate religious employees' beliefs. Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said that Davis's imprisonment was part of the "criminalization of Christianity", while conservative Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin compared Davis's refusal to obey the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to Alabama Governor George Wallace's "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door" in 1963. A few weeks after her release from jail, Davis met with Pope Francis in Washington, D.C. The Holy See Press Office later noted that the pope met with many others and said that the meeting was not a form of support for Davis's actions. Davis has been satirized in popular culture; she was parodied in a Funny or Die video, as well as on Saturday Night Live.

Davis gained international attention after her refusal to issue marriage licenses and the ensuing controversy her actions caused. Many legal experts asserted that Davis had no standing under the law to refuse to issue the licenses. Columbia Law School professor Katherine Franke said, "Kim Davis has all sorts of religious liberty rights secured under the First Amendment and under other laws, but they are not at stake in this case. All she's asked to do with couples that come before her is certify that they've met the state requirements for marriage, so her religious opposition to same-sex marriage is absolutely irrelevant." Professor Stephen Vladeck of American University's Washington College of Law said that Davis "waived any right to have an objection to issuing same-sex marriage licenses when she ran for the job". Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin and others compared Davis's refusal to follow orders of the U.S. Supreme Court to Alabama Governor George Wallace's futile "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door" protest of desegregation in 1963. The Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBT civil rights group, said, "Ms. Davis has the fundamental right to believe what she likes ... but as a public servant, she does not have the right to pick and choose which laws she will follow or which services she will provide." Attorney and author Roberta A. Kaplan, who argued for the plaintiffs in United States v. Windsor, wrote that "Kim Davis is the clearest example of someone who wants to use a religious liberty argument to discriminate, yet she swore an oath to uphold the Constitution. It is laughable that she can then decide which laws to enforce, which is why every decision in her case has gone against her."