Kim Davis Loses Another Appeal

Kim Davis has lost yet another appeal.

Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit denied the Kentucky county clerk's request for a stay of Judge David Bunning's order requiring her to issue marriage licenses to all eligible couples, regardless of gender. Rowan County Clerk Davis and her lawyers argued that Bunning had improperly expanded the order to cover any same-sex couple requesting a license, not just those who sued her, who have already obtained their licenses from Davis's deputies. Their motion, filed Friday, was dubbed a "Hail Mary" pass by one law professor -- in other words, an act of desperation.

But a three-judge panel of the appeals court said Davis and her legal team, from the right-wing group Liberty Counsel, had not gone through proper procedures in seeking the stay. They went straight to the appellate level, skipping federal district court, where Bunning had issued the order. They claimed, "Seeking a ruling from the district court on a stay request is 'impracticable' ... due to the extraordinary doggedness of the district court to expand the Injunction."

"This is not a valid excuse," the appellate judges replied in their brief ruling today, posted by Equality Case Files.

Two days ago, the appeals court denied another of Davis's efforts to delay the requirement that she issue licenses to all eligible couples. That one sought a stay of the order while her lawsuit against Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear proceeds. The Sixth Circuit denied that one because, the judges ruled, Davis does not have "a substantial likelihood of success" in her suit against Beshear over his instruction to all Kentucky county clerks to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court's marriage equality ruling. It did not, however, dismiss her suit.

Davis went back to work this week after being released from jail, where she spent five days for contempt of court, having defied Bunning's order. One of her deputy clerks is issuing licenses to same-sex couples, which do not bear Davis's name but make reference to the court order.