Posted on 09/04/2015 11:23:16 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina legislators enacted a law in June giving magistrates and staffers in county register of deeds offices a way to avoid participating in same-sex weddings if they have religious objections to gay marriage.
But officials said Thursday that the law is different from what's on the books in Kentucky, where a clerk who defied court orders to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples has been jailed, and they don't foresee a similar standoff occurring in North Carolina.
U.S. District Judge David Bunning said he had no choice but to jail Rowan County (Ky.) Clerk Kim Davis for contempt after she insisted that her "conscience will not allow" her to follow federal court rulings on gay marriage.
North Carolina's law doesn't cover elected officials, only magistrates appointed by county court clerks and assistants to the elected register of deeds in each county. It also requires that someone must be made available to issue a marriage license or preside over a wedding if someone steps aside for religious reasons, so no one would be denied service, as has been the case in Kentucky.
"We provided an opportunity for folks who have strongly held religious views with objections to opt out, but we also provided a backstop," said Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, who sponsored the legislation. "It’s keeping folks from having to choose between their job and their religious beliefs. I think that’s important."
Still, Sarah Preston, acting executive director of the North Carolina chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the laws in North Carolina and Kentucky both amount to "government officials refusing to do part of their job."
(Excerpt) Read more at wral.com ...
Yes. Factiousness.
RE: They’ll get a judge to throw it out.
Where in the constitution of the United States or even North Carolina, does it say that a judge has the power to overturn the will of the elected body of the people?
The State’s Congress, from a regulatory standpoint, has the absolute constitutional authority to smack down any rogue judge.
The main question is this — will it be WILLING and ABLE to?
You missed everything that happened before today, didn’t you?
bunning is a liar.
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