Just so we're all on the same page, Kim Davis, the clerk down there in Rowan County, Kentucky, who is gussying up her Professional Victim resume by refusing to do the job she was elected to do, had to take an oath when she took office. Here it is.

"I, ....., do swear that I will well and truly discharge the duties of the office of .............. County Circuit Court clerk, according to the best of my skill and judgment, making the due entries and records of all orders, judgments, decrees, opinions and proceedings of the court, and carefully filing and preserving in my office all books and papers which come to my possession by virtue of my office; and that I will not knowingly or willingly commit any malfeasance of office, and will faithfully execute the duties of my office without favor, affection or partiality, so help me God."

That last line seems pretty clear to me. But, just to be sure, let's check with Deuteronomy.

When thou shalt vow a vow unto the LORD thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the LORD thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee. (23:21-23).

Or Numbers.

If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth. (30:2).

Maybe she's just hanging her hat on Matthew 5: 33-37, where Jesus tells his followers not to swear oaths of any kind, but that puts her on the fightin' side of the Lord any time she takes an oath of office. Maybe she's confused. But if you're on the wrong side of theocracy from Antonin (Short Time) Scalia, you are a sheep who has left the fold far behind.

He has, after all, taken an oath to apply the laws and has been given no power to supplant them with rules of his own. Of course if he feels strongly enough he can go beyond mere resignation and lead a political campaign to abolish the death penalty" and if that fails, lead a revolution. But rewrite the laws he cannot do.

Or maybe she's just a self-important busybody taking her bigotry out for a walk on the news.

Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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