Stivers asks judge to not punish Kim Davis

FRANKFORT, Ky. Kentucky's top two legislative leaders repeated Wednesday their support for a special legislative session to pass legislation that would both resolve Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis' ongoing conflict with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage and to conform state law to that ruling.

And one of those leaders, Senate President Robert Stivers, on Wednesday asked a federal judge to withhold action against Davis for her defiance of the ruling by denying marriage licenses to gay couples, until the Kentucky General Assembly can act.

Stivers, a Manchester Republican, made his request in a brief filed with U.S. District Judge David Bunning, who is to preside Thursday at a hearing in federal court in Ashland on whether to hold Davis in contempt of court.

While Stivers' brief was being filed, both he and House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, were holding an impromptu news conference in Frankfort in which both repeated recent statements that they support a special session.

But because Gov. Steve Beshear is the only person who can call a special session, and Beshear has made clear he will not do so, Stivers and Stumbo agreed that the issue will likely have to wait until the next regular session begins in January.

Stivers and Stumbo said they support a change in the law that could eliminate Davis' conflict by establishing a process in which clerks do not issue marriage licenses but merely record them.

But both also said that state laws must be revised in many ways to conform with the Supreme Court ruling. "We do not have a statutory definition of marriage," said Stivers. Until laws are rewritten to conform with the ruling, Stivers said Kentucky marriage laws operate under "a total lack of guidance, or potentially maybe disarray."

Stumbo said the Supreme Court ruling affects laws dealing with inheritance, adoption, domestic relations and other matters. "It's bigger than just this one clerk's issue," he said of Davis' refusal to issue marriage licenses to gay couples because of her religious beliefs."The statutes are full of language changes that need to be brought into conformity with the ruling."

But Beshear repeated in a statement on Tuesday his well-established position — that Davis and only two other of Kentucky's 120 county clerks are defying the Supreme Court's ruling. "The General Assembly will convene in four months and can make statutory changes it deems necessary at that time. I see no need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayers' money calling a special session of the General Assembly," Beshear said.

Stivers said in a news release late Wednesday that the Supreme Court ruling had "completely obliterated the definition and the process for obtaining a marriage license in Kentucky." He also said that if Beshear does not call a special session, he could issue an executive order addressing the problems that would have the force of law until the legislature could act in January.

Beshear spokesman Terry Sebastian could not immediately be reached Wednesday evening for any response to Stivers and Stumbo.

The two top legislative leaders had different comments Wednesday when asked if they supported Kim Davis.

"She has a deeply held religious belief. And it is something that she is willing to sacrifice her freedom for," Stivers said. "You have to respect her for that."

Stumbo said he does not think it is fair to force many clerks to make such a difficult decision when a fix to the problem can be passed quickly by the General Assembly. Still Stumbo said Davis took an oath to uphold the law, "So I think she has a duty, as do all clerks, until we get a fix, to obey the law."

Reporter Tom Loftus can be reached at (502) 875-5136 or at tloftus@courier-journal.com