SUPREME COURT: CLERK MUST ISSUE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE LICENSE DESPITE RELIGION

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a Kentucky county clerk’s request to deny gay marriage licenses on the basis of religious objections.

The court issued the one-line order without explanation.

Kim Davis, the clerk in Rowan County, Kentucky, “holds an undisputed sincerely held religious belief that marriage is a union between a man and a woman, only,” her lawyers had said in an application after the Supreme Court ruled earlier this summer that same-sex marriage was legal across the country.

Immediately after the Supreme Court’s June 26th gay marriage ruling, Kentucky’s governor, Steve Beshear, ordered all the state’s county clerks to comply with the decision and issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

When Davis refused, citing her religious objection, couples seeking licenses sued, and a federal judge ordered her to comply. Last week a three-judge panel of the Sixth Court of Appeals agreed. The Supreme Court decision on Monday denied Davis’ request for a stay while she pursues an appeal.

It’s not clear exactly what Davis will do when her office opens Tuesday. Her attorney said she will pray about it overnight.

The requirement to issue same-sex marriage licenses “demands that she either fall in line (her conscience be damned) or leave office (her livelihood and job for three-decades in the clerk’s office be damned),” Davis’ lawyers wrote in the initial application.

“She’s going to have to think and pray about her decision overnight. She certainly understands the consequences either way,” Mat Staver, founder of the law firm representing Davis, said on Monday, hours before a court-ordered delay in the case expired. “She’ll report to work tomorrow, and face whatever she has to face.”