NASHVILLE -- State Rep. Rick Womick is again urging Tennessee county clerks to quit issuing marriage certificates to same-sex couples, hailing the example of Rowan County, Ky., Clerk Kim Davis who has refused to issue such licenses.
But there appears to be a problem with the Tennessee Republican's citing of Davis as a model to follow.
Rick Womick has called for the resignation of Gov. Bill Haslam. Read more
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U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning today found Davis in contempt of court and place her into the custody of U.S. marshals until she complies with the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on same-sex marriage, according to news accounts.
"The court cannot condone the willful disobedience of its lawfully issued order," Bunning told Davis before ordering her to be jailed, according to The New York Times. "If you give people the opportunity to choose which orders they follow, that's what potentially causes problems."
The judge said Davis, an elected official, would be released once she agreed to comply with his order and issue the marriage licenses.
Womick, of Rockvale, issued a statement calling on Tennessee clerks to follow Davis' example.
"Under what law, federal or state, are our county clerks issuing homosexual couples marriage licenses?" Womick asked. "What federal law would Tennessee county clerks be violating if they did not issue marriage licenses to homosexual couples? Under what federal law would they be prosecuted and held in contempt for violating if they did not issue marriage licenses to homosexual couples?"
Taking a shot at Republican Gov. Bill Haslam and state Attorney General Herbert Slatery, Womick said "the answer, which has eluded our Governor and our State Attorney General, is simple; there is not one!"
In a recent interview with the Times Free Press, Womick had called the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on marriage unprecedented.
Asked about how that squared with the Supreme Court's 1967 ruling in Loving v. Virginia, in which the nation's highest court struck down states' laws prohibiting interracial marriage, Womick said he wasn't aware of that landmark ruling. The ruling invalidated a then-provision in the Tennessee Constitution that banned interracial marriages. Voters later removed the provision in the late 1970s.