FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) – A federal judge has ordered Kentucky taxpayers to pay more than $220,000 in attorneys’ fees for an elected county clerk who caused a national uproar by refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2016.
U.S. District Judge Jim Bunning says Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis was acting on behalf of the state government when she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-couples on the basis of her personal religious beliefs. He ordered the state to pay $222,695 in attorneys’ fees and another $2,008.08 in costs. He said the county government and Davis herself are not liable.
“Davis represented the Commonwealth of Kentucky when she refused to issue marriage licenses to legally eligible couples. The buck stops there,” Bunning wrote.
A U.S. Supreme Court decision effectively legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in the summer of 2015, setting off joyous celebrations among gay rights advocates nationwide. But just hours after the decision, Davis’ announcement she would stop issuing marriage licenses transformed the tiny town of Morehead into the front lines of the culture war with angry demonstrations from both sides captured on national television.
The case reached its zenith after a judge sent Davis to jail for refusing his order to issue the licenses. When she was freed five days later, two Republican presidential candidates were there to greet her along with thousands of supporters, including a church choir.