Miller v. Davis

Last updated

Miller v. Davis
EDKY seal.png
Court United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky
Full case nameApril Miller et al. vs. Kim Davis in her individual and official capacity as Rowan County Clerk
DecidedAugust 18, 2015
Case history
Prior action(s)preliminary injunction issued, defendant placed in federal custody for contempt of court
Court membership
Judge(s) sitting David L. Bunning, U.S.D.J.
Keywords
Same-sex marriage in Kentucky, U.S. Amendment 1, Establishment Clause, Free Exercise Clause

Miller v. Davis is a federal lawsuit in the United States regarding the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples. After the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide on June 26, 2015, the county clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, Kim Davis, refused to issue marriage licenses to any couple to avoid issuing them to same-sex couples, citing her religious beliefs. She also refused to allow her deputies to issue the licenses, as they would still bear her title and name.

Contents

On August 12, 2015, U.S. District Judge David L. Bunning ordered Davis to issue marriage licenses to all couples. He stayed his ruling until August 31, at her request, while she sought a stay pending appeal. A federal appeals court denied the stay, [1] followed by the Supreme Court who also refused to stay the ruling. [2] On September 3, Judge Bunning ordered Davis jailed for contempt of court until she complied with the order. [3] Davis was released on September 8, following her deputy clerks issuing marriage licenses to the plaintiffs during her jailing. On September 14, Davis returned to work, at which point she no longer prevented her clerks from issuing licenses, though she continued to question their validity. [4] The case was dismissed as moot on April 19, 2016. [5]

Background and District Court

On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that a state may not refuse marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Kentucky had previously banned same-sex marriage by constitutional amendment, thus same-sex couples rushed to get married as soon as the decision was handed down. The county clerk of Rowan County, Kim Davis, refused to issue marriage licenses to any couple, same-sex or opposite-sex, in order to circumvent the decision.

On July 1, 2015, two same-sex couples and two opposite-sex couples represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky against Kim Davis. The case was assigned to Judge David L. Bunning. Hearings for a preliminary injunction ordering Kim Davis to issue marriage licenses to all couples were held on July 13, and July 20. The plaintiffs contended that Obergefell mandates marriage licenses be issued to all couples across the nation, including in Rowan County. Davis contended that the First Amendment protects her from having to do so, as her religious beliefs forbid her to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and thus she stopped issuing them to any couple. [6]

On August 12, 2015, Judge Bunning issued a preliminary injunction ordering Kim Davis to issue marriage licenses to any qualified couple. He wrote that Kim Davis would suffer no irreparable harm by having her signature on a marriage license issued to a same-sex couple. On August 17, he refused to stay the ruling pending appeal, but granted a temporary stay until August 31. Davis had refused to issue any marriage licenses in the interim.

Appeal

Davis immediately appealed the ruling to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. On August 17, after the district court refused to stay its ruling pending appeal, Davis asked the Sixth Circuit for a stay pending appeal. On August 26, a unanimous three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit consisting of Judges Damon J. Keith, John M. Rogers and Bernice B. Donald denied the stay pending appeal. The panel wrote that she had little to no chance to succeed on appeal on the merits of her case.

Rejection of Rowan County clerk's application for stay Kentucky-marriage-order-8-31-15.png
Rejection of Rowan County clerk's application for stay

Davis then turned to the Supreme Court for a stay. [8]

On August 31, 2015, the day the temporary two-week stay issued on August 17 expired, after the clerk's office had closed, the U.S. Supreme Court, with no noted dissent, declined to stay the district court's ruling in an unsigned order. [9] This route was the last legal one Davis could seek to maintain her policy of not issuing any marriage licenses.

On September 1, 2015, the plaintiffs and other couples tried to get marriage licenses, and were declined again. Davis cited "God's authority" for her refusal, even though she was in direct defiance of the court's order. The plaintiffs immediately filed a motion to hold Davis in contempt of court. [10]

On November 2, Davis' lawyers filed a motion asking the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn four of Bunning's decisions, calling them a "rush to judgement" that "imposed direct pressure and substantial burden on Davis, forcing her to choose between her religious beliefs and forfeiting her essential personal freedom on one hand, or abandoning those beliefs to keep her freedom on the other hand". [11] The court denied the motion on November 5. [12]

Contempt of court

After Davis failed to comply with his order Judge Bunning ordered Davis and her staff into court for a contempt hearing on September 3 in Ashland, Kentucky. [10] At the hearing, Judge Bunning remanded Davis into the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service for her failure to comply with his earlier order that she issue marriage licenses. [3] "The court cannot condone the willful disobedience of its lawfully issued order," Judge Bunning said. "If you give people the opportunity to choose which orders they follow, that's what potentially causes problems." [13] Davis was then transported to the Carter County Detention Center in Grayson. [14]

Davis' six deputy clerks were also ordered to the hearing. Five out of six of them agreed to issue licenses after Davis' imprisonment. Nathan Davis, Kim Davis' son, refused, though the judge did not impose any penalties on him as long as he agreed not to interfere with other deputies issuing the licenses. [13]

Due to Davis' status as an elected official, it would have been difficult to terminate her despite the contempt ruling. Davis could have been impeached and removed from office by the Kentucky General Assembly, but the General Assembly did not meet again until regular session which started January 2016. Governor Steve Beshear said on July 7, 2015, that he "will not be calling a special session on this topic", citing the compliance of a majority of clerks to the Supreme Court's decision and the cost to taxpayers. [15]

Judge Bunning said he would revisit his decision to hold her in contempt in about a week, since by then her deputies will have issued licenses to same-sex couples in her place. [16] Deputy clerks reopened their office in Morehead and began issuing marriage licenses on September 4. [14]

On September 6, 2015, Davis's attorneys filed for an appeal of Judge Bunning's contempt of court ruling to the Sixth Circuit. [17] [18]

Release from custody

On September 8, 2015, Judge Bunning issued an order lifting the contempt of court finding against Davis and ordering her immediate release from custody. In the order, Bunning barred Davis from interfering or attempting to interfere with her deputies issuing the marriage licenses. The order allowed Bunning to sanction Davis again should he determine that she had interfered or prevented her deputies from issuing marriage licenses. [14]

On September 14, Davis returned to work at the Rowan County Clerk's office. She did not stand in the way of her deputy clerks issuing marriage licenses, and claimed she would not in the future. However, she questioned the validity of the licenses issued, as they were not issued with her permission or authority. That same day, Governor Beshear stated the licenses were validly issued and would be recognized as valid by the state. [4]

Case mooted

On December 22, 2015, newly elected governor Matt Bevin issued an executive order removing all county clerks' names from marriage licenses in Kentucky. The State of Kentucky then filed a motion with the Sixth Circuit asking the court to dismiss Davis' appeal as moot. On April 19, 2016, the Sixth Circuit granted the motion, noting the issue was now moot, and dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction. [5]

Related Research Articles

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Same-sex marriage in Colorado has been legally recognized since October 7, 2014. Colorado's state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage was struck down in state district court on July 9, 2014, and by the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado on July 23, 2014. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals had already made similar rulings with respect to such bans in Utah on June 25 and Oklahoma on July 18, which are binding precedents on courts in Colorado. On October 6, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the Tenth Circuit cases, and the Tenth Circuit lifted its stay. On October 7, 2014, the Colorado Supreme Court and the Tenth Circuit cleared the way for same-sex marriages to begin in Colorado.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Bunning</span> American judge

David Louis Bunning is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. Bunning is the son of former Republican Senator Jim Bunning, a Hall of Fame baseball pitcher who represented Kentucky in the United States Senate from 1999 to 2011.

Same-sex marriage in Utah has been legal since October 6, 2014. On December 20, 2013, the state began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples as a result of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah's ruling in the case of Kitchen v. Herbert, which found that barring same-sex couples from marriage violates the U.S. Constitution. The issuance of those licenses was halted during the period of January 6, 2014 until October 6, 2014, following the resolution of a lawsuit challenging the state's ban on same-sex marriage. On that day, following the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to hear an appeal in a case that found Utah's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the state to recognize same-sex marriage.

Same-sex marriage in Alabama has been legal since June 26, 2015, in accordance with the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges. Not all counties immediately complied with the ruling, copying behavior from the civil rights era when they had refused to perform interracial marriages. A year after the Supreme Court ruling, only twelve counties would either issue licenses to no one or only to opposite-sex couples. By 2017, this number had dropped to only eight counties, with all eight refusing to issue licenses to anyone. In May 2019, the Alabama Legislature passed a bill replacing the option that counties issue marriage licenses and perform marriage ceremonies with the requirement of counties to record marriage certificates. Subsequently, all counties complied and announced on August 29, 2019 that they would record marriage certificates for interracial and same-sex couples. Previously, Alabama had banned the licensing of same-sex marriages and the recognition of such marriages from other jurisdictions by executive order in 1996, by statute in 1998, and by constitutional amendment in June 2006.

Same-sex marriage in Nebraska has been legally recognized since June 26, 2015, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges that the denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples violates the Fourteenth Amendment. Following the court ruling, the Attorney General, Doug Peterson, announced that the state of Nebraska would comply and recognize same-sex marriages.

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This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the year 2014.

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Same-sex marriage in Kentucky has been legal since the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26, 2015. The decision, which struck down Kentucky's statutory and constitutional bans on same-sex marriages, was handed down on June 26, 2015, and Governor Steve Beshear and Attorney General Jack Conway announced almost immediately that the court's order would be implemented.

Same-sex marriage in Mississippi has been legal since June 26, 2015. On November 25, 2014, U.S. District Court Judge Carlton W. Reeves of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi ruled that Mississippi's ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. Enforcement of his ruling was stayed pending appeal to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that the denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples is unconstitutional under the U.S. Constitution. On June 29, Attorney General Jim Hood ordered clerks to comply with the court ruling and issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The Fifth Circuit lifted its stay on July 1, and Judge Reeves ordered an end to Mississippi's enforcement of its same-sex marriage ban. However, until July 2, 2015, several counties in Mississippi continued to refuse to issue marriage licenses, including DeSoto, Jasper, Jones, Newton, Pontotoc, Simpson and Yalobusha.

Same-sex marriage in Missouri has been legal since the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which struck down state bans on marriages between two people of the same sex on June 26, 2015. Prior to the court ruling, the state recognized same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions pursuant to a state court ruling in October 2014, and certain jurisdictions of the state performed same-sex marriage despite a statewide ban.

Same-sex marriage in Arkansas has been legal since the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26, 2015, in which the court struck down same-sex marriage bans nationwide. Prior to this, same-sex marriage in Arkansas was briefly legal for a period beginning on May 9, 2014, as a result of a ruling by Sixth Judicial Circuit Judge Chris Piazza striking down the state's constitutional and statutory bans on same-sex marriage as violating the U.S. Constitution. Approximately 541 same-sex couples received marriage licenses in several counties before the Arkansas Supreme Court stayed his ruling pending appeal on May 16, 2014.

<i>Baskin v. Bogan</i>

Baskin v. Bogan, the lead Indiana case challenging that state's denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples, was filed in federal district court on March 12, 2014, naming several government officials as defendants. Chief Judge Richard L. Young found for the plaintiffs on June 25. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld the district court ruling in a unanimous decision on September 4.

<i>Wolf v. Walker</i>

Wolf v. Walker is a federal lawsuit filed in February 2014 that challenged Wisconsin's refusal to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples, its refusal to recognize same-sex marriages established in other jurisdictions, and related statutes. In June 2014, Judge Barbara Crabb of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin ruled for the plaintiffs. And in the week before she stayed her decision county clerks in 60 of the state's 72 counties issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples and some performed marriage ceremonies for them. The state appealed her decision to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which affirmed her opinion in a unanimous decision on September 4. The state requested a writ of certiorari from the U.S. Supreme Court, which was denied on October 6. Same-sex marriages resumed after the Seventh Circuit issued its mandate the next day.

On June 25, 2014, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling striking down Utah's same-sex marriage ban, setting a precedent in other states under the Tenth Circuit's jurisdiction. In addition, on July 18, 2014, the same panel of the Tenth Circuit invalidated Oklahoma's ban as well. Both Circuit Court rulings were stayed pending certiorari review from the Supreme Court of the United States. The Tenth Circuit consists of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming. New Mexico is the only state in the circuit where same-sex marriage was legal prior to the decisions. Utah is the only state in the circuit where same-sex marriage was temporarily legal after its ban was struck down. A ruling requiring the state of Utah to recognize same-sex marriages performed within the state was temporarily stayed and was originally set to expire on July 21, 2014, at 8:00 a.m. The Supreme Court of the United States extended the stay on July 18, 2014.

In Brenner v. Scott and its companion case, Grimsley v. Scott, a U.S. district court found Florida's constitutional and statutory same-sex marriage bans unconstitutional. On August 21, 2014, the court issued a preliminary injunction that prevents that state from enforcing its bans and then stayed its injunction until stays are lifted in the three same-sex marriage cases then petitioning for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court–Bostic, Bishop, and Kitchen–and for 91 days thereafter. When the district court's preliminary injunction took effect on January 6, 2015, enforcement of Florida's bans on same-sex marriage ended.

Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. 644 (2015), is a landmark case of the Supreme Court of the United States which ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. The 5–4 ruling requires all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and the Insular Areas to perform and recognize the marriages of same-sex couples on the same terms and conditions as the marriages of opposite-sex couples, with all the accompanying rights and responsibilities. Prior to Obergefell, same-sex marriage had already been established by statute, court ruling, or voter initiative in thirty-six states, the District of Columbia, and Guam.

In the United States, the history of same-sex marriage dates from the early 1940s, when the first lawsuits seeking legal recognition of same-sex relationships brought the question of civil marriage rights and benefits for same-sex couples to public attention though they proved unsuccessful. However marriage wasn't a request for the LGBTQ movement until the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Washington (1987). The subject became increasingly prominent in U.S. politics following the 1993 Hawaii Supreme Court decision in Baehr v. Miike that suggested the possibility that the state's prohibition might be unconstitutional. That decision was met by actions at both the federal and state level to restrict marriage to male-female couples, notably the enactment at the federal level of the Defense of Marriage Act.

Kimberly Jean Davis is a former county clerk for Rowan County, Kentucky, who gained international attention in August 2015 when she defied a U.S. federal court order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

References

  1. ↑ Stern, Mark Joseph (August 26, 2015). "Kim Davis: Sixth Circuit orders anti-gay clerk to issue marriage licenses". Slate Magazine . Retrieved September 12, 2015.
  2. ↑ Wynn, Mike (August 26, 2015). "Rowan gay marriage licenses upheld on appeal". The Courier-Journal . Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  3. 1 2 McLaughlin, Eliott C.; Shoichet, Catherine E. (September 3, 2015). "Kentucky clerk gets jail time for failing to issue same-sex marriage licenses". CNN . Retrieved September 12, 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Defiant Kentucky Clerk Says She Won't Block Same-Sex Marriage Licenses". The Wall Street Journal . September 14, 2015. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
  5. 1 2 "Miller V Davis | PDF | Judiciaries | Government".
  6. ↑ "Miller v. Davis Proposed Class Action" (PDF). ACLU of Kentucky. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 13, 2015. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Miscellaneous Order (08/31/2015) – Supreme Court" (PDF). www.supremecourt.gov. August 31, 2015. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  8. ↑ Wynn, Mike (August 26, 2015). "Rowan gay marriage licenses upheld on appeal". The Courier-Journal. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  9. ↑ Chappell, Bill (August 31, 2015). "Kentucky Clerk's Request For A Stay Is Denied By U.S. Supreme Court". NPR . Retrieved September 5, 2015.
  10. 1 2 Blinder, Alan; Pérez-Peña, Richard (September 1, 2015). "Kentucky Clerk Denies Same-Sex Marriage Licenses, Defying Court". The New York Times . Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Kim Davis Heads Back To Court". The Huffington Post . November 4, 2015. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Kentucky: Defiant Clerk Loses Again". The New York Times. November 5, 2015. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
  13. 1 2 Blinder, Alan; Lewin, Tamar (September 3, 2015). "Clerk in Kentucky Chooses Jail Over Deal on Same-Sex Marriage". The New York Times . Retrieved September 12, 2015.
  14. 1 2 3 WSAZ News Staff; Dan Griffin; The Associated Press; Andrew Colegrove (September 4, 2015). "UPDATE: Marriage Licenses Issued in Rowan County". WSAZ-TV . Retrieved September 4, 2015.[ permanent dead link ]
  15. ↑ Blackford, Linda B. (July 7, 2015). "Beshear: No need to call special session on same-sex marriage issues". kentucky.com. Lexington Herald-Leader. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  16. ↑ "With clerk jailed, gay Kentucky couple gets marriage license". MSN. Associated Press. September 4, 2015. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  17. ↑ Payne, Ed (September 6, 2015). "Kim Davis appeals contempt of court ruling over same-sex marriage licenses". CNN. Retrieved September 7, 2015.
  18. ↑ Herskovitz, Jon (September 6, 2015). "Kim Davis legal team launches new appeal against contempt verdict on Sunday". Reuters. Retrieved September 7, 2015.
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