Andrew Wolfson

Louisville Courier Journal

A federal appeals court has dismissed a claim that Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis filed against the state of Kentucky for requiring her to issue marriage licenses that bore her name to same-sex couples.

Davis last year refused to issue such licenses to same-sex couples, arguing it violated her religious beliefs. The American Civil Liberties Union sued her on behalf of April Miller and others denied licenses, and a federal judge ordered Davis to issue them.

She filed a complaint within that suit against Kentucky, claiming it was violating her religious beliefs, but the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday dismissed it, noting that on Dec. 12, newly elected Gov. Matt Bevin issued an executive order revising the license form to eliminate the need for the name and signature of the clerk.

The appeals court said the revision of the official marriage license form eliminates any claim by Davis that she is suffering any "serious or irreparable consequences" and her lawyers acknowledged that Bevin's order provided the accommodation she had sought.

Davis' appeal of a ruling requiring her to issue licenses is still pending at the 6th Circuit, said Dan Canon, one of the lawyers for the couples.

The original suit was filed by Miller and Karen Roberts, the first couple denied a license by Davis, and three other same-sex couples who were turned down by her office after the U.S. Supreme Court in June ruled that all states must allow same-sex couples to marry, striking down laws that forbade that, including Kentucky's constitutional amendment that limited marriages to a man and a woman.

Miller and Roberts later wed.

Reporter Andrew Wolfson can be reached at (502) 582-7189 or awolfson@courier-journal.com

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