After being jailed for defending her religious convictions by refusing to issue same-sex marriage certificates, the City Clerk in Kentucky has been released from jail. Her attorney says it was six days too late, and the judge says she should be assigned to a government position other than marriage licenses so that her religious convictions are not betrayed, but the licenses still get issued.
From a moral standpoint, we are seeing preferential treatment for one group over another. A belief that the gay lifestyle should be normalized is being preferentially treated over the belief that the behavior is a sin. Is that equal treatment under the law as the 14th Amendment demands?
The Heritage Foundation through their Daily Signal website points out that a State law in Kentucky exists to protect people like Kim Davis. The law is Kentucky’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which requires the government to avoid substantially burdening religious expression absent a compelling government interest. There is no compelling government interest in keeping Kim Davis’s name on the licenses instead of the name of the deputy clerks who are willing to issue them. So, instead of arresting her and throwing Davis in jail, they should have moved her to another position in the office where her religious convictions would not be violated.
Setting aside the moral side of the issue, we also have to ask if the Supreme Court ruling that is being used as an excuse to jail Kim Davis was constitutional in the first place. Does the Supreme Court have the authority to make law, and strike down State laws on a State issue? Absolutely not! It's none of the federal government's business, be it marriage, or any religious issue in general.
Early on in Thomas Jefferson's presidency the Danbury Baptists of Connecticut sought the Virginian's help because he had brought religious freedom to the State of Virginia in a joint effort with James Madison. Jefferson, however, told the Danbury Baptists he could not help them, because religion was none of the federal government's business. If they wanted to seek religious equality in the State of Connecticut, the Danbury Baptists would have to do it through their State.
It's none of the federal government's business. It's not their job to guarantee rights, that job belongs to us individuals. It is not the federal government's job to insert their opinion regarding State issues and State institutions. It is our job inside our own State. What we have is a lawless federal government reaching beyond its expressly enumerated authorities, and they are doing it by lawlessly legislating through unelected judges.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
Ky. Clerk Can be Released Without Compromising Values - Daily Signal
Kim Davis to be released from prison - Yahoo News
Kim Davis's position - Rowan County Clerk - is an elected one in charge of that county department. Nobody has the legal authority to "move her to some other function" in the Rowan County Clerk's office. Only remove her from that elective office altogether, something that can only happen in the near term if there's a recall provision in Rowan County election law.
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