Kentucky Clerk Denies Marriage Licenses | Update: Clerk Freed w/Warning!

[mornelithe]

HoloDust said:

CosmicSex said:

Do you know why she was arrested?  She went to the courts (all of the way to the supreme court) and petitioned them to enforce a stay of execution so she would not have to do her job as assigned.  Her job as assigned is to verity that people are lawfully able to wed. And to provide them with a license.  She didn't want gay couples to have access to this right.  The courts denied her request and ordered her to comply with the federal law and issue the licenses according to the law.  She refused this court order.  That is what it means to be in contempt of court.   Therefore they arrested her.  She simply does not get to pick an choose who gets the right to marry because she isn't the law. 

Not really famliliar with how clerks come to their position in US, or whether or not they can be fired. Arresting someone for something like this instead of seeking other solution seems to me like dangerous precedent.

It's a unique situation, she's elected to her office, she's not hired in a traditional sense.  Before the Judge decided to have her remanded to Marshal custody, they discussed that she'd received funds for her legal battle (though, she hadn't publicly asked for funds), so the court reasonably assumed that fining her, wouldn't actually impact her.  It's not entirely a dangerous precedent, really, because it's been done in the past.  This, as I said, was unique, because it's an elected official, refusing the SCOTUS ruling, as well as an appeal ruling.