A montage of moments from Rowan County Kentucky. Defiant Kentucky clerk remains jailed after rejecting deal Attorneys for the plaintiffs proposed letting Kim Davis out of custody as long as she wouldn’t interfere with her clerks issuing marriage licenses to gay couples. She said no.

The Kentucky county clerk who was jailed after refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples turned down a deal that would have allowed her to be released.

Rowan County clerk Kim Davis was ordered to jail Thursday after a federal judge found her in contempt for refusal to issue marriage licenses.


On Thursday afternoon, after being threatened with jail time, five of her six deputy clerks agreed to issue the marriage licenses to gay couples – the sixth is Davis’ son – and attorneys for the plaintiffs proposed letting Davis out of custody as long as she wouldn’t interfere with the issuing of licenses, according to The Associated Press.

But Davis didn't like that idea and refused to give her deputy clerks the authority to issue the licenses, which means she will spend the night in jail.

"God's moral law conflicts with my job duties," Davis told the judge before a federal marshal escorted her out, according to the AP. "You can't be separated from something that's in your heart and in your soul."

The Rowan County clerk stopped issuing marriage licenses — for all couples — after the Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage in June. She was elected to the post in November; her mother was the county clerk for nearly 40 years before her.

The American Civil liberties Union attorneys who filed the motion on Monday did not ask for jail time; instead they requested Davis be fined because she "continues to collect compensation from the Commonwealth for duties she fails to perform,” according to the motion.

The judge told the AP that Davis left him with no alternative but to jail her, since fines alone would not make her change her mind.

“I’ve weighed the cost and I’m prepared to go to jail, I sure am,” she told Fox News’ Todd Starnes before her court appearance. “This is a heaven or hell issue for me and for every other Christian that believes … This is a fight worth fighting.”

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said no one is above the law "on principle, that the success of our democracy depends on the rule of law, and there's no public official that is above the rule of law."

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee weighed in on Twitter within minutes of the sentencing.

“Kim Davis in federal custody removes all doubts about the criminalization of Christianity in this country. We must defend #ReligiousLiberty!” he tweeted.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul called the court order a "huge mistake" on CNN Thursday.

"It’s seen as the federal government is going to come in with bully force, here even with police power and incarcerate people who disagree," he said. "I think it’s absurd to put someone in jail for exercising their religious liberty.”

Many other GOP candidates have weighed in on Davis’ circumstances over the past week. Though they have been split on whether she should be able to continue to deny licenses, they all voiced strong concern for religious liberty being under attack, and many pointed out that they, too, did not support the Supreme Court decision.

Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton also weighed in Thursday, voicing support for the judge's decision.

"Marriage equality is the law of the land. Officials should be held to their duty to uphold the law — end of story," Clinton tweeted.