# Fuck you, Rowan County (KY) Clerk Kim Davis **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 13, 2015, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-rowan-county-ky-clerk-kim-davis/727757 "2015-08-13T18:09:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 31
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-rowan-county-ky-clerk-kim-davis/727757/601 "2015-09-04T01:13:34Z")
I doubt that the five deputies were elected along with Kim. They are appointed positions. Wonder if they even took an oath. Administrative positions. I think Kim would have to be recalled with a vote/impeached for dereliction of duties. I really question that there are five deputy clerks. But the definition I get from that may be different from the county I work in. Rowen County has a population of 23k. About the same population as the county I work for. We have one deputy for each elected position. I’m just spitballin here. But five deputy clerks? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-rowan-county-ky-clerk-kim-davis/727757/602 "2015-09-04T01:20:40Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > But the judge disagrees and orders her deputies to issue licenses without her authority. So, if she does not have the authority to order her deputies not to issue licenses, then why the need for jail? Keeps the deputies from deferring any marriage license requests to her. Which presumably had been happening since the SCOTUS decision. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-rowan-county-ky-clerk-kim-davis/727757/603 "2015-09-04T01:28:55Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > Of course, Cruz’s “stand with” means giving speeches from Texas. (He’s here for a few speeches before returning to the campaign trail.) It does _not_ mean offering his high-power legal talents… And it most certainly does not mean going to jail alongside her, beneficial as that might be for the Republic. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-rowan-county-ky-clerk-kim-davis/727757/604 "2015-09-04T02:04:12Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > And please! Stop putting apostrophes on everything. Apostrophe does not mean “oncoming s”. “Muslims” doesn’t need an apostrophe unless you are talking about one Muslim who owns something. Same with Mormons, Rastafarians, and anything else! I…I think I love you… Seriously, **Anaamika** , please don’t make good on the threat you made in the **AprilR** pitting to leave the board. Your posts are always worth reading. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-rowan-county-ky-clerk-kim-davis/727757/605 "2015-09-04T02:19:58Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I’m stunned that you seem unable to comprehend what I’m saying. Unless she can twin herself, she cannot be in both a jail cell and in her office. She has “literally and physically” been removed for her office, and this is unambiguously true. I never said she was no longer going to be employed as clerk. When the county fumigates the building for silverfish, she’s also been “literally and physically” removed from her office. But that doesn’t mean she gives up her position. What point are you making, then? Because I’m failing to follow it. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-rowan-county-ky-clerk-kim-davis/727757/606 "2015-09-04T02:30:23Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > BTW, why is this case the cause célèbre right now, when other clerks in Kentucky, Alabama, and possibly Texas are also refusing to issue licenses. Why do we care more about Kim Davis than the rest of them? As much as the media is trying to portray it as just another Mayberry backwater, Morehead (county seat of Rowan Co.) is a college town, home to Morehead State University and its 11,000 students. The University and its relatively progressive community means that there are enough gay people around that some of them want to get married, and also an activist base to support them. There are two other clerks in Kentucky who have made the same vow, but AFAIK no one has requested a license for them to deny. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-rowan-county-ky-clerk-kim-davis/727757/607 "2015-09-04T02:49:36Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > But the judge disagrees and orders her deputies to issue licenses without her authority. So, if she does not have the authority to order her deputies not to issue licenses, then why the need for jail? > > Plus, the deputies are not parties before the court and the judge shouldn’t have the power to hold them in contempt or otherwise order them to do anything. > > I disagree with Davis on this, but I do not think this remedy is proper. The deputies only have such power as is delegated by the Clerk. She has the authority to direct her deputies to issue licences, but she can’t put an unlawful condition on the issuance of licences, which is what she has done. The judge is severing the unlawful condition from her directive and telling the deputies to issue the licences in her name, without the unlawful condition. It’s really much the same as If she was taking bribes as a condition of issuing a licence, and telling her clerks not to issue a licence without demanding a bribe. The judge could tell the deputies that she’s put an unlawful condition on their duties and they are to disregard that unlawful condition and to issue licences in her name, as required by law. And, since she insists that she will continue to refuse, then it is appropriate to keep her in jail because she is in contempt of a court order until she purges her contempt by either resigning her office, or agreeing to issue the licences. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-rowan-county-ky-clerk-kim-davis/727757/608 "2015-09-04T03:25:13Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I doubt that the five deputies were elected along with Kim. They are appointed positions. Wonder if they even took an oath. Administrative positions. > > I think Kim would have to be recalled with a vote/impeached for dereliction of duties. I really question that there are five deputy clerks. But the definition I get from that may be different from the county I work in. > > Rowen County has a population of 23k. About the same population as the county I work for. We have one deputy for each elected position. > > I’m just spitballin here. But five deputy clerks? There are six deputy clerks who are employees. They are not elected. It’s like the District Attorney and the ADAs. Do you honestly think that these actual six deputies are somehow made up and every news article is incorrect and that the six real people who faced the judge are only one or two people and the rest are made up and it’s some elaborate cover up for god knows what? Or just maybe there are really six deputies. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-rowan-county-ky-clerk-kim-davis/727757/609 "2015-09-04T03:32:25Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > [Ever eager to grab a headline](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ted-cruz-kim-davis-contempt)… > > No > > There’s more if you want to read it. What does a license for a civil ceremony have to do with her religion? No clergyman has been forced to marry any couple in the USA–this hasn’t changed. Surely she knows some of her licenses lead to civil weddings. Or weddings by clergy of denominations she no doubt considers Hell Bound. > > Of course, Cruz’s “stand with” means giving speeches from Texas. (He’s here for a few speeches before returning to the campaign trail.) It does _not_ mean offering his high-power legal talents… Jeezus. That man is so not fit to be the president. Or senator. Or county dog-catcher. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-rowan-county-ky-clerk-kim-davis/727757/610 "2015-09-04T04:41:36Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I’m stunned that you seem unable to comprehend what I’m saying. Unless she can twin herself, she cannot be in both a jail cell and in her office. She has “literally and physically” been removed for her office, and this is unambiguously true. I never said she was no longer going to be employed as clerk. Holy fuck ; are you really this stupid? “Removed from office” doesn’t mean “pushed into the hallway” you imbecile. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_Hey\_Paula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hey\_Hey\_Paula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_Hey_Paula)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-rowan-county-ky-clerk-kim-davis/727757/611 "2015-09-04T05:06:12Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Davis has [doubled](http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2015/09/02/kentucky-clerk-kim-davis-contempt-gay-marriage/71573666/) down: the judge told her he would lift the contempt charges since her deputies have (mostly) agreed to start issuing licenses, but she refused to leave jail and declared (through her attorney) that “she does not authorize any employee to issue licenses in her absence.” And this right here tells me that this whole brouhaha is mostly about power. Ms. Davis has a certain amount of power in her job as county clerk, and once the Supreme’s ruling came out, she decided she had the power to say no. No, you gays, you don’t get to get married in my county. And no, all you straight folks, you don’t get to get married either. No, no, no. She still thinks she has that power, despite a Federal Judge’s order, despite being in a holding cell. She’s a pathetic small-town woman with little or no power in this modern society, who desperately needs to hold some power, any power, even just the power to be a stubborn bitch. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-rowan-county-ky-clerk-kim-davis/727757/612 "2015-09-04T05:31:24Z")
The nutcase demagogue that is her lawyer isn’t getting the attention that he deserves in this thread. Mathew Staver of the Liberty Counsel is a real piece of work. [Kim Davis’ counsel: Did they do her right?](http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2015/09/03/kim-davis-counsel-did-they-do-her-right/71663292/), Andrew Wolfson, The Courier-Journal, Sept. 3, 2015. > [@](#): > > Citing attorney-client privilege, Staver, the founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, who has likened acceptance of the Supreme Court’s gay marriage decision to turning over a Jew to the Nazis, refused to say what advice he gave Davis, who was jailed Thursday for contempt of court. > > \< snip \> > > But the Southern Poverty Law Center last year added it to its list of “anti-gay hate groups” for propagating “known falsehoods” about gays and lesbians that have been discredited by scientists. The Southern Poverty Law Center also cited its promotion of so-called conversation therapy, which claims to convert homosexuals into heterosexuals through means that the American Psychological Association has denounced as harmful. > > \< snip \> > > He [Staver] also said Liberty Counsel “would never counsel a client to violate the law.” > > But writing in Slate, Mark Joseph Stern, who covers legal and lesbian and gay issues, said Liberty Counsel seemed to be “taking Davis for a ride, using her doomed case to promote itself and its extremist principles.” > > \< snip \> > > The report [Liberty Counsel’s annual report] says it [Liberty Counsel] began that year by issuing an “urgent call for active Christian citizenship” in mid-term elections and by the end of the year “we gave God praise for the stern repudiation American voters gave to the radical Obama agenda.” It added that “our liberties are still in peril under the most tyrannical administration in American history.” > > On Liberty Counsel’s radio show, “Faith and Freedom,” Staver predicted that the Boy Scouts of America’s recent decision to lift its ban on gay leaders would turn it into a “playground for pedophiles” with “all kinds of sexual molestation,” [according to transcript published by Right Wing Watch](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/staver-boy-scouts-will-now-become-playground-pedophiles). > > Addressing the gay marriage decision on the same show, he said it would mark either the “beginning of a revival and renewal and perhaps revolution” or “the end of this country and the end of civilization.” ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-rowan-county-ky-clerk-kim-davis/727757/613 "2015-09-04T05:49:09Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > As much as the media is trying to portray it as just another Mayberry backwater, Morehead (county seat of Rowan Co.) is a college town, home to Morehead State University and its 11,000 students. The University and its relatively progressive community means that there are enough gay people around that some of them want to get married, and also an activist base to support them. > > There are two other clerks in Kentucky who have made the same vow, but AFAIK no one has requested a license for them to deny. That makes a lot of sense. Thanks. I had assumed that all of the clerks mentioned in the news had actually rejected applications for licenses, and that they would have all rejected them and gotten sued more or less immediately. If most of the clerks are just flapping their gums hoping to see their names in the paper, we’ve actually done a lot better than I’d expected at _not_ having government officials cause problems over this. ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-rowan-county-ky-clerk-kim-davis/727757/614 "2015-09-04T06:04:42Z")
Republican Candidates on the Rule of Law: IMMIGRATION LAWS: Must be strictly enforced. MARRIAGE LAWS: Totally up to the clerk.\*\*\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-rowan-county-ky-clerk-kim-davis/727757/615 "2015-09-04T06:17:10Z")
> [@Hey\_Hey\_Paula](#): > > And this right here tells me that this whole brouhaha is mostly about power. Ms. Davis has a certain amount of power in her job as county clerk, and once the Supreme’s ruling came out, she decided she had the power to say no. No, you gays, you don’t get to get married in my county. And no, all you straight folks, you don’t get to get married either. No, no, no. She still thinks she has that power, despite a Federal Judge’s order, despite being in a holding cell. She’s a pathetic small-town woman with little or no power in this modern society, who desperately needs to hold some power, any power, even just the power to be a stubborn bitch. I’m interested to see how far she’ll take it and how long she’ll hold out. She’s got to be thinking “Well, they can’t hold me in here FOREVER or the rest of my life just because I’m STANDING UP FOR MY BELIEFS. What’s the worst they can do? What, are they going to start denying me food and water next?” I seriously believe she’s going to try to hold out as long as possible to see if she can get people start thinking/feeling “Oh my, locked up for two-three-six months for just not agreeing to licences, maybe that IS a bit harsh.” I’m not saying that’s what people will eventually think, but in her deluded mind, that may be what she’s trying/hoping for. It will either be her holding out as long as she can to push her martyrdom to the limits, or an emergency meeting called to officially fire her from the position and then opening the cell doors. I’m curious to see what side will crack first. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-rowan-county-ky-clerk-kim-davis/727757/616 "2015-09-04T06:22:25Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > I’m interested to see how far she’ll take it and how long she’ll hold out. She’s got to be thinking “Well, they can’t hold me in here FOREVER or the rest of my life just because I’m STANDING UP FOR MY BELIEFS. What’s the worst they can do? What, are they going to start denying me food and water next?” > > I seriously believe she’s going to try to hold out as long as possible to see if she can get people start thinking/feeling “Oh my, locked up for two-three-six months for just not agreeing to licences, maybe that IS a bit harsh.” > I’m not saying that’s what people will eventually think, but in her deluded mind, that may be what she’s trying/hoping for. > > It will either be her holding out as long as she can to push her martyrdom to the limits, or an emergency meeting called to officially fire her from the position and then opening the cell doors. I’m curious to see what side will crack first. Really? I’d be willing to bet money that she cracks in less than a week, probably with an announcement that God has intervened and granted her a job with FOX News or Focus on the Family or some Evangelical church so that she can spread her gospel of hate even more effectively. I doubt it will even last long enough to set something up, but I know this board has done things like this in the past. Say, 50 bucks to the other persons’s charity of choice? Anyone want to define the terms and referee? ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-rowan-county-ky-clerk-kim-davis/727757/617 "2015-09-04T06:29:04Z")
Actually, before anyone jumps on this, since you said _months_ and I’m saying less than a week, the win/loss line should be in between. Maybe one month? We could negotiate. I’m sure I could be talked down. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-rowan-county-ky-clerk-kim-davis/727757/618 "2015-09-04T07:45:13Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > Actually, before anyone jumps on this, since you said _months_ and I’m saying less than a week, the win/loss line should be in between. Maybe one month? We could negotiate. I’m sure I could be talked down. I’m thinking as she sits and rots in her cell, members of the Legislature will push for the Governor to call a special session so they can impeach her and rescue her. That way she can start her book tour/campaign appearances in Iowa. I don’t see Judge Bunning caving in anytime soon. Impeaching her gets everyone off the hook and lets the GOP turn a loss into a PR victory. Surely, Rove or Priebus will realize the opportunity they have and put the wheels in motion! ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-rowan-county-ky-clerk-kim-davis/727757/619 "2015-09-04T08:17:49Z")
This is Kentucky we are talking about here, folks. No way is the legislature going to impeach her. That puts them on the wrong side of the lord. They just won’t do it, no matter how much political sense it makes. Not gonna happen. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-rowan-county-ky-clerk-kim-davis/727757/620 "2015-09-04T08:25:35Z")
Personally, I doubt she has the charisma, talent, or temperament to be an on-camera personality, even if every word she utters is read from a TelePrompTer. I think she’s going to get a seat at the keynote speech for next year’s CPAC conference, with maybe a shout-out to stand up and wave to the crowd, and that’ll be the end of her ride. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-rowan-county-ky-clerk-kim-davis/727757.md?page=30) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-rowan-county-ky-clerk-kim-davis/727757.md?page=32)