Former Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis, who opposed gay marriage, appeals ruling over attorney fees

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

A former Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples a decade ago is appealing a ruling ordering her to pay thousands in attorney fees.

The appeal filed by attorneys for Kim Davis in federal court argues that the landmark Obergefell ruling in 2015 should be overturned. Davis objected to same-sex marriage on religious grounds and was briefly jailed.

A federal judge ruled in January that Davis, who is the former Rowan County clerk, must pay $260,000 in fees to attorneys who represented a couple who sought a license from her office. Attorneys from the group The Liberty Counsel filed a brief Monday asking the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati to overturn that ruling.

Davis' refusal to issue a license to a same-sex couple led to weeks of protests as gay marriage opponents around the country praised her defiance. Davis, a Republican, ultimately lost her bid for reelection in 2018.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said in a news release that Davis “deserves justice in this case since she was entitled to a religious accommodation from issuing marriage licenses under her name and authority."

The appeal brief takes aim at the 2015 Supreme Court ruling that allowed same-sex couples to legally marry, saying the ruling was a “mistake” and “has produced disastrous results for individuals like Davis, who find it increasingly difficult to participate in society without running afoul of” the law.

Davis has also been ordered to pay $100,000 in damages to the couple who sued.

Davis was released from jail in 2015 only after her staff issued the licenses on her behalf but removed her name from the form. Kentucky’s state legislature later enacted a law removing the names of all county clerks from state marriage licenses.