Althouse: "Kim Davis is ordered to pay $100,000 to same-sex couple she denied marriage license."

September 15, 2023

"Kim Davis is ordered to pay $100,000 to same-sex couple she denied marriage license."

I'm blogging this because I blogged so much about Kim Davis back in 2015. Click on the Kim Davis tag to see what I said back then. I'll flag this one as the most helpful.

50 comments:

Blastfax Kudos said...: In recent years I have begun questioning the sanity and viability of government at any level being involved with marriages at all.; 9/15/23, 11:07 AM
Gospace said...: So is it time to start collecting personally from governors who ordered unconstitutional mandatory masking?

How about governors ordering firearms bans?

Wow- and let's thing about college administrators personally paying damages...

But I imagine the ratchet, as usual, only goes one way. Taxpayers pay for liberal injustices.; 9/15/23, 11:08 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Kim Davis is out of order... Al Pacino.; 9/15/23, 11:09 AM
Leland said...: Likely won’t stop other clerks from deciding without the protection of the law who should and shouldn’t be on ballots. The resolution is too far down the road.; 9/15/23, 11:11 AM
rhhardin said...: She should have offered them a civil union license. That's what people favored.; 9/15/23, 11:22 AM
MadisonMan said...: Given that she was employed by the Govt, and the Govt told her what to do (and she didn't), I think this is a fair ruling. If you can't do your job because of your religion, I'd say: Find another job. No one has a right to a job.
Also, I am suspicious of the claim by the lawyer that the two men were 'gutted' not to have their marriage recognized by the state. But I guess some people do love drama.
She should just start a GoFundMe. I'm sure there are people out there who want to help. A fool and their money, etc.; 9/15/23, 11:32 AM
Marc said...: I hope this can be used as a precedent limiting the practice of Qualified Immunity.; 9/15/23, 11:48 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: God bless Kim Davis, a Christian martyr.

May there be a 100,000 like her to defy and renounce Althouse’s devil worship.; 9/15/23, 11:56 AM
Wince said...: The district court found Davis personally liable in both cases, but only awarded damages in one... The case is about a government official that just refused to do her job. It's a pretty simple case.

Interested to know about any other government employees held personally liable for their official acts or omissions.; 9/15/23, 12:00 PM
Gunner said...: I wonder if Trump would have won without the anti-democratic approval of same sex marriage by SCOTUS. I feel like it angered white normies enough especially in the Midwest to destroy the Blue Wall.; 9/15/23, 12:22 PM
Owen said...: So that's the going rate for a few hurt feelings?

Where do I sign up???; 9/15/23, 12:30 PM
gahrie said...: Lois Lerner could not be reached for comment.; 9/15/23, 12:32 PM
Earnest Prole said...: To avoid a repeat of all the dopey comments from a few years back, imagine Kim Davis refused to issue a lawfully mandated concealed carry permit because she didn’t like guns.; 9/15/23, 12:33 PM
papper said...: How much should the government be forced to pay for violating first amendment rights by censoring speech?; 9/15/23, 12:42 PM
Dave Begley said...: Buckles called it a "terrible injustice" that the jury awarded nothing in damages to the other couple: "Their rights were violated, too. I find it shocking that a jury would award zero dollars for their violation of their constitutional rights."

Dude, litigation is uncertain. Grow up.; 9/15/23, 12:46 PM
n.n said...: Transgender couplets and Democratic codification of binary bigotry under the established Pro-Choice ethical/selective religion.; 9/15/23, 1:32 PM
n.n said...: Cancel the "respect for marriage act". Civil unions for all consenting adults. Children, too? #NoJudgment #NoLabels #Forward; 9/15/23, 1:46 PM
Narayanan said...: why could not the Judge perform ceremony of matrimony instead of issuing order? and just moot the case!!

were the eager / blushing couple not present during trial hearing?; 9/15/23, 2:12 PM
Narayanan said...: Kim Davis should have dared Judge to marry the couple; 9/15/23, 2:13 PM
Levi Starks said...: I’m going to assume she’ll be denied the opportunity to creat a go fund me?; 9/15/23, 2:28 PM
James K said...: Eventually a deputy clerk approved the two couples' requests for marriage licenses, and Davis went to jail for five days for contempt of court.

So how were they damaged? By the delay in getting this piece of paper that changed nothing material in their lives? And she was already punished. So this just seems vindictive.

I don't know all the details. Probably she didn't handle this very well, but it seems like more of an internal discipline matter. These guys got their license, but they wanted their pound of flesh too.; 9/15/23, 2:41 PM
Birches said...: They're trying to shoot the wounded now...; 9/15/23, 2:47 PM
James K said...: Also, looking at your 2015 post, I find the comment regarding the Orthodox Jew and the cheeseburger joint inapt. Orthodox Jews don't care about what non-Jews eat, and in fact condone them eating whatever they want. This is closer to the bakery case, except that this was her job, and either she's required to do her job or her employer is required to make a religious accommodation for her and get someone else to do the dirty work. I think her strongest argument would be the religious accommodation, as it seems to be essentially zero cost to her employer.; 9/15/23, 2:51 PM
Jupiter said...: "She should just start a GoFundMe."

No, GoFundMe is part of the Shit Machine. They would let her accumulate about 30 grand and then refuse to hand it over. They have done that to a lot of people. She needs to go with GiveSendGo. They are not part of the Shit Machine.; 9/15/23, 4:02 PM
Jupiter said...: "Interested to know about any other government employees held personally liable for their official acts or omissions."

To the extent this can be regarded as a rejection of qualified immunity, I'm all for it. While I don't believe the government has any business granting marriage licenses on the grounds of a shared sexual perversion, it is not Kim Davis' right to unilaterally prevent it.; 9/15/23, 4:07 PM
gadfly said...: It seems to me that Kim Davis must have known that laws cannot be ignored because of her religious beliefs. So she had one choice, as Justice Anthony Kennedy suggested - resign rather than issue the license. When charged, Davis should have pleaded "guilty" using a public defender.

Personally, I believe the $100,000 fine is way over the limit. None of the 1,000 convicted participants in the violent Jan 6 coup paid a fine that large.

Somehow the same-sex marriage license got issued, so the reasoning should be "no harm, no foul."; 9/15/23, 4:11 PM
Chuck said...: Wow, Althouse; just look at how much more interesting, more stimulating, more provocative-yet-worthy were your blog's comments back in September of 2015 (thanks for linking the old blog post), pre-Trump.

I didn't see any comments by me on that page; but I did see some long-gone commenters (garage mahal) as well as some current commenters. Trump and Trumpism has debased and demeaned our public debating since then, don't you think?; 9/15/23, 4:42 PM
Darkisland said...: Jupiter

Agree about gofundme.

I was going to kick in $5 but there doesn't seem to be a give send go collection yet

John Henry; 9/15/23, 5:22 PM
Duke Dan said...: How much do Brandon and Mayorkas owe for not following immigration law and preventing border crossings. How much does Barry Obama owe for DACA. This is going to be fun.; 9/15/23, 5:47 PM
Readering said...: It seems 2 couples sued and went to trial, but the jury only awarded damages to one couple. Wonder what the differences were.; 9/15/23, 6:44 PM
Yancey Ward said...: "To avoid a repeat of all the dopey comments from a few years back, imagine Kim Davis refused to issue a lawfully mandated concealed carry permit because she didn’t like guns."

That is a good point, Prole. What are the odds any jurisdiction would prosecute her for that?; 9/15/23, 6:44 PM
n.n said...: This is how DIE, political congruence ("="), logical domain conflation (e.g. climate change"), human rites, ethnic Springs, capitol abortion, Whitmer conspiracy, etc should be capitalized.; 9/15/23, 7:24 PM
FullMoon said...: To avoid a repeat of all the dopey comments from a few years back, imagine Kim Davis refused to issue a lawfully mandated concealed carry permit because she didn’t like guns.

Minor difference. Kim believed she would go to hell for violating her faith.

And, comments from 2015 interesting. Includes inflation, immigration, George Zimmerman, and more.; 9/15/23, 7:28 PM
Lance said...: Seems like a pretty straightforward case. Why did it take eight years to reach a verdict?; 9/15/23, 7:54 PM
Jeff said...: “The culture war is over. All that remains is to patrol the battlefield shooting the wounded.”; 9/15/23, 8:30 PM
Christopher B said...: Worth reminding folks that Kim Davis identified as a Democrat; 9/15/23, 9:13 PM
G Joubert said...: This being the case, if the clerk's duties are set in stone and the clerk hasn't the personal discretion the voters elected her to use, why is a clerk necessary at all? Inasmuch as it's all pro forma, they should be selling these licenses in a vending machine.; 9/15/23, 10:04 PM
G Joubert said...: This being the case, if the clerk's duties are set in stone and the clerk hasn't the personal discretion the voters elected her to use, why is a clerk necessary at all? Inasmuch as it's all pro forma, they should be selling these licenses in a vending machine.; 9/15/23, 10:04 PM
Jason said...: " it is not Kim Davis' right to unilaterally prevent it."

Sure. But it is within any human beings right to have nothing to do with it. Which is what Davis asserted.

The court got this wrong. Like Dred Scott and Korematsu and Plessy v. Ferguson before it.

This ruling essentially imposes a religious test on observant Catholics from holding office.

Fortunately, providing a religious accommodation in cases like this is trivially easy. But that's not the solution liberal fasicsts will pursue.; 9/15/23, 10:14 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Thanks for putting the text in bold letters, YW. I’d missed it otherwise.; 9/15/23, 11:50 PM
Narayanan said...: Christopher B said...
Worth reminding folks that Kim Davis identified as a Democrat
=========
so this order is punishment for getting off the planatiaon?; 9/16/23, 5:07 AM
Tom said...: The government shouldn’t license marriage. I don’t agree with her decision to deny the license but I believe no one has the power to force her violate her 1st amendment rights. The government needs to pay attention to when it creates competing rights situations, especially when speech is compelled, the government is almost always wrong.

How much does she want to be a martyr for this cause? Because if she’s prepared to go biblical in her commitment, I can see this getting very ugly.; 9/16/23, 5:44 AM
Tom said...: Imagine if we forced an elected doctor (say the state coroner) by the government to perform a lethal injection on a condemned prisoner? For sake of argument, let’s assume the legislature recently changed and designated state coroner’s job to oversee executions.

“If you don’t do it, the family of the victims will sue you for $100,000 and you’ll spend five nights in jail for contempt. It’s your job to kill other people. If you won’t do it and a state employee who is a deputy does it, you’re still liable for damages and contempt charges.”

Who agrees that doctor can be force to kill someone, even if it’s their job? If you don’t think so, then where do we cross the line where the government can compel speech and actions that violate someone’s constitutional rights?; 9/16/23, 5:58 AM
tim maguire said...: Convicted of working while christian.

She was in the wrong—if she couldn’t in good conscience do her job, then how could she in good conscience continue to receive a paycheck for it? But the total punishment visited upon her for a paperwork infraction is outrageous. These people weren’t harmed, they were inconvenienced. This is also a civil rights issue. They never would have come down so hard on a lefty.; 9/16/23, 6:51 AM
Owen said...: The plaintiff couple in this sorry case should be named and publicly shamed as the winners —by a landslide— in the Most Vindictive Litigants Of The Year, and then billed for every nickel of judicial resource that they consumed in pursuing this matter.

What a colossal waste, and an unfortunate further proof that the country has gone right down the drain.

Hmph.; 9/16/23, 7:41 AM
damikesc said...: I guess the whole "qualified immunity" fiction created by courts does not work if what you do is "bad".

I'll note the lack of fines for the lawyers who have been harassing Masterpiece Bakery for years now.; 9/16/23, 9:35 AM
Earnest Prole said...: That is a good point, Prole. What are the odds any jurisdiction would prosecute her for that?

In California at least the odds aren't bad: Guilty as charged: California sheriff convicted in concealed carry corruption case; 9/16/23, 10:14 AM
Earnest Prole said...: Minor difference. Kim believed she would go to hell for violating her faith.

In that case, firing her was a win-win: The law was upheld and she gets to go to heaven.; 9/16/23, 10:41 AM
Jason said...: Scratch a liberal, you'll find a fascist. Every time.; 9/17/23, 12:11 AM
Dan said...: "In recent years I have begun questioning the sanity and viability of government at any level being involved with marriages at all."

So much THIS. Government has no business caring about my marital status whatsoever.; 9/17/23, 1:40 PM