Doooh! My bad. Either way he’s a TYRANT!
David L. Bunning (born 1966) is a United States federal judge. Bunning is the son of former Sen. Jim Bunning, a Hall of Fame baseball pitcher who represented Kentucky in the United States Senate from 1999 to 2011.[1]
Born in Ft. Thomas, Kentucky, Bunning received a B.A. from the University of Kentucky in 1988 and a J.D. from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 1991. He was a law clerk in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Kentucky in 1991, and was an assistant U.S. Attorney in that office from 1991 to 2002.
Bunning was nominated by President George W. Bush on September 4, 2001, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, which was vacated by William O. Bertelsman. On December 10, 2001, representatives of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary testified before the United States Senate Committee of the Judiciary for the AMA’s majority opinion that Bunning was unqualified for the position of a Federal District Court Judge due to his age of 35, a lack of complex civil case experience as a federal attorney, and his “middle-of-the-class law school” experience at the University of Kentucky[2]. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 14, 2002, and received his commission on February 19, 2002.[1]
Fourteen years after Judge Bunning’s confirmation, on September 3, 2015, he issued a contempt of court ruling against Rowan County clerk Kim Davis, who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples based on her personal religious beliefs.[3] Judge Bunning’s decision came at a pivotal juncture in the gay marriage debate. Judge Bunning said in his ruling, “Personal opinions, including my own, are not relevant to today. The idea of natural law superseding this court’s authority would be a dangerous precedent indeed.” Throughout Davis’s months-long legal battle, Judge Bunning made it clear that he knew his decision to force the Rowan County clerk to follow the law put him at odds with the deeply held personal beliefs of a lot of Americans, himself included. [1]
“Our form of government will not survive unless we, as a society, agree to respect the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions, regardless of our personal opinions,” Judge Bunning wrote in his August 2015 decision ordering Davis to begin issuing marriage licenses. “Davis is certainly free to disagree with the court’s opinion, as many Americans likely do, but that does not excuse her from complying with it. To hold otherwise would set a dangerous precedent.” [1]