Justice Scalia explained why Kim Davis should issue marriage licenses or find a new job

Washington Post ^ | 09/02/2015 | By Jonathan H. Adler

[SeekAndFind]

Kim Davis, the clerk of Rowan County, Ky., refuses to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples because she believes same-sex marriage is immoral. According to Davis, her religious convictions prevent her from issuing the license: “To issue a marriage license which conflicts with God’s definition of marriage, with my name affixed to the certificate, would violate my conscience.”

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, Kentucky Gov. Steven Beshear ordered all county clerks in the state to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but Davis refused. A federal district court ordered her to comply and issue such licenses, and she still refused. She sought relief in federal court, and even sought relief from the Supreme Court, but to no avail. She now risks contempt.

No justice publicly dissented from the Supreme Court’s denial of Davis’s plea for relief, and this was not surprising. The law on this point is clear. Davis cites her religious conscience as the excuse for her intransigence, but she is wrong to do so. That’s not only my view, but the view of no less than Justice Antonin Scalia.

Davis has a right to observe and adhere to her religious beliefs, but she does not have a right to her job as county clerk. The latter obligates her to follow federal law, including the applicable judgments of federal courts, and it is now the law of the land that the Constitution bars state governments from refusing to recognize same-sex marriages on equal terms with opposite-sex marriages. If, as Davis claims, her religious convictions bar her from issuing such a marriage license, she should resign.

[demshateGod]

In fact Scalia predicted this. His dissent was scathing and significant.

[demshateGod]

Only Scalia never said that nor would he. The writer made it up.

[DoodleDawg]

They changed the rules AFTER she was hired, so she should demand they move her to an equal position that does not interfere with her religious beliefs, or fire her and lets get on with the lawsuits.

She's an elected official so they can't just move her to another elected office. And they can't fire her for the same reason.