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Kim Davis is back in court because she doesn't want to pay a gay couple

kim davis
Ty Wright/Getty Images

Rowan County clerk Kim Davis gives a statement about her intentions on applying her signature to same sex marriage licenses on her first day back to work, after being released from jail last week, at the Rowan County Courthouse September 14, 2015 in Morehead, Kentucky.

The former Kentucky county clerk went to jail rather than issue marriage licenses to a gay couple, and now she's gunning to overturn marriage equality in the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Kim Davis, the former Kentucky county clerk who spent five days in jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2015, was back in court on Thursday, with her lawyers arguing why she shouldn’t have to pay punitive damages in the case, the Kentucky Lantern reports. The case is currently before the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati.

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Davis is represented by Liberty Counsel, a conservative Christian legal and support organization based in Lynchburg, Virginia. Her lawyer and the group’s founder and chairman, Matthew Staver, said their strategy in the case is a U.S. Supreme Court showdown over Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 decision that legally recognized marriage equality.

Related: Kim Davis violated gay couple’s Constitutional rights

“I have no doubt that Obergefell will be overturned, and the issue will be returned back to the states as it was before 2015,” Staver told the Lantern.

Following the Obergefell v. Hodges U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2015 recognizing marriage equality, Davis, a county clerk in Rowan County, refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, saying it would violate her protected religious beliefs. She shut down all marriage license operations in her office to avoid serving same-sex couples and was briefly detained for her actions.

Related: Kim Davis must pay $100,000 to one gay couple, but nothing to second couple

David Ermold and David Moore were denied a license three times by Davis. A second couple, James Yates and Will Smith were denied five times. On one occasion, Davis said she was acting “under God's authority” in denying the license, according to court records.

Both couples sued, but only Ermold and Moore were awarded damages. Davis has stubbornly refused to pay damages and continues to fight in court.

On Thursday, lawyers for Ermold and Moore said the time had come for Davis to follow the court’s order and pay damages to their clients.

Related: Are more damages on the way for anti-marriage equality Kentucky clerk?

William Powell of the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection argued there was enough evidence and testimony to support the damages awarded.

“Plaintiffs here testified extensively about the emotional harm they suffered as a result of the denial of their rights,” Powell said in arguments on Thursday. “There was extensive testimony from both plaintiffs, and I think that testimony stacks up I think quite well to other cases where this court has affirmed emotional distress damages.”

Related: Kim Davis is back, wants SCOTUS fight to overturn marriage equality

Staver countered that the amount awarded was inappropriate, saying there was “zero evidence” of any emotional harm resulting from Davis’s actions.

“There’s no lost wages, there’s no treatment, there’s no injury, there’s no out-of-pocket expenses,” Staver said. “It’s only based on their hurt feelings that occurred when they went to the clerk’s office to get the license and they said Kim Davis’s words caused them the distress.”

The court gave no indication when it will issue a ruling in the case.

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