The Right Ruling

Court says Kentucky clerk doesn’t have qualified immunity from lawsuit

Remember Kim Davis? The Rowan County, Kentucky, clerk made headlines in 2015 by refusing to issue a marriage license to same-sex couples, even though such unions had recently become legal by a U.S. Supreme Court decision.

Well, Davis had a religious objection to samesex marriage, even though she was ordered to issue the licenses by a U.S. District Court. She defied the court and spent a few days in jail for contempt. The media gave Davis a lot of publicity and a following among those opposed to gay marriage, including several politicians who showed up by her side for a photo op.

Didn’t do much for her career, though. She was voted out a couple of years later and drifted off into obscurity.

Until now, that is. Davis has still been fighting a lawsuit filed against her by two couples she denied marriage licenses.

Davis claims that, as county clerk, she had qualified immunity from such suits and that the legal action should be dismissed.

That argument hasn’t worked out too well for her in court so far.

And now another blow. On the first day of its new session, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear her appeal. That means the plaintiffs are free to pursue damages against Davis.

Some — including Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas — have tried to inject religious freedom argument into the case. But this case wasn’t about that.

It was simply a question of whether an elected official could be sued for failing to follow the law. Davis knew the law. She substituted her personal opinion for the law. Qualified immunity protects an public official doing his or her job. It does not shield an official from deliberately ignoring the law.

The court made the right call.