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WATCH: Hillary Clinton Says Kim Davis Got What She Deserved 

WATCH: Hillary Clinton Says Kim Davis Got What She Deserved 

Hillary Clinton

Kim Davis deserved to spend time in jail, and should resign if she's not willing to follow the law of the land when it comes to marriage equality, says Clinton.

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At a campaign event at Cornell College in Iowa this morning, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton offered a pointed critique of antigay Kentucky clerk Kim Davis's ongoing defiance of the Supreme Court decision mandating nationwide marriage equality.

"What would you do about somebody if they were to do something like what Kim Davis did recently?" a young person asked the Democratic front-runner, referring to the clerk who spent six days in jail for contempt of court after she cited her Christian faith and refused to issue marriage licenses to any couples in Rowan County, Ky., to avoid licensing same-sex couples.

"I think what happened to Kim Davis was the right thing," Clinton replied. "She violated the law, and therefore she was arrested. And when she was released, she had to agree that she would not stand in the way of doing her public duty under the Constitution.

"So I actually think that she was treated as she should have been treated," Clinton continued, before affirming that "people are totally entitled to their personal, private beliefs."

But that entitlement doesn't give anyone, especially elected public officials with a taxpayer-funded salary, the right to disobey the law of the land, Clinton added.

"When you take an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States, that is your job," she said. "Whether you agree with a decision or not, we have the rule of law. You have to follow the law. ... You either enforce the law or you resign from your public position. That is exactly what should have happened."

Clinton previously discussed Davis's extralegal saga in a Saturday address to Human Rights Campaign volunteers, but declined to mention Davis by name in that instance. Instead, she focused her ire on Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, who was "literally standing in the courthouse door in Kentucky, calling for people to join him in resisting a Supreme Court ruling, celebrating a county clerk who's breaking the law by denying other Americans their constitutional rights."

Watch Clinton's remarks on Davis in Iowa today below, via The Washington Post.

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Sunnivie Brydum

Sunnivie is the managing editor of The Advocate, and an award-winning journalist whose passion is covering the politics of equality and elevating the unheard stories of our community. Originally from Colorado, she and her spouse now live in Los Angeles, along with their three fur-children: dogs Luna and Cassie Doodle, and "Meow Button" Tilly.
Sunnivie is the managing editor of The Advocate, and an award-winning journalist whose passion is covering the politics of equality and elevating the unheard stories of our community. Originally from Colorado, she and her spouse now live in Los Angeles, along with their three fur-children: dogs Luna and Cassie Doodle, and "Meow Button" Tilly.