The clerk who refuses to issue marriage licenses is an elected official and cannot be fired, only impeached.

Brady Bunch wrote:

Just Fred wrote:

Too bad that AG Kathleen Kane was not held to that standard when she abdicated her sworn duty to defent the Commonwealth and its Defense of Marriage Act against the ACLU because--as she said on camera--she personally disagreed with that law and sided with plaintiff.

Did she do that for religious reasons?  I think you may be conflating two separate things here.

 

Rongone's comparison of the "Oath Keeper's" to this clerk in Kentucky is conflating two separate things, since the "Oath Keepers" weren't elected to anything and as far as I am aware of, they didn't break any laws in Ferguson.

My brief reference to the group that calls themselves "oath keepers" was due to their own definition of their mission:

"Oath Keepers is an American nonprofit organization which encourages members — some of whom are said to be current and former U.S. military and law enforcement — to disobey any orders they believe violate the Constitution of the United States."

As with county clerk Kim Davis, they feel it is their right to define codified law based on their particular point of view regardless of the actual meaning or mandate of the actual laws supported by court decisions. If we continue to allow individuals or groups to select which laws they will obey or re-interpret laws to suit their personal intentions, I submit that the organized society will fail and that civilization will descend into chaos.
 

Tarnation wrote:

Rongone wrote:

 Gee . . . I thought we weren't supposed to derail topics.

What does the Kane debacle have to do with Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis' refusal to issue marriage licenses?

'

My post had absolutely nothing to do with the current Kane debacle, because was not caused by her failure to carry out the duties of her office.

The real Kane debacle, IMHO, occurred three years ago when she caved on the ACLU lawsuit.  She had taken an oath to defend this Commonwealth and reniged on that responsibility because she personally favored the plaintiff's position. 

At that point, if she had had any ounce of integrity (which recent history is showing was completely lacking) she would have resigned.   Failing to do so, the legistlature should have had her impeached.

Those same options are applicable in Kentucky.  

Do your job and uphold your oath of office.

Resign.

Or be impeached.
 

I thought that SCOTUS struck down state DOMA statutes in it's decision U.S. v Windsor which caused the state of PA to drop it's defense of DOMA in Palladino v. Corbett. Didn't the state's attorney in that case (Joel Frank), based on the SCOTUS decisions and admonitions from the judge (Mary McLaughlin) in the state case, decide it was fruitless to defend the state DOMA?
 

I thought that SCOTUS struck down state DOMA statutes in it's decision U.S. v Windsor which caused the state of PA to drop it's defense of DOMA in Palladino v. Corbett. Didn't the state's attorney in that case (Joel Frank), based on the SCOTUS decisions and admonitions from the judge (Mary McLaughlin) in the state case, decide it was fruitless to defend the state DOMA?

If that was indeed the case, then Kane knew that pursuing a defense of DOMA would simply be an exercise in futility and doomed from the start.  Am I correct on this?  I'm not connecting the dots between a public official refusing to obey the law and an AG deciding not to purse a case that would eventually be lost due to the court decisions that rongone outlined in his post #15.
 

Goose wrote:

According to the interwebs, this clerk has been married 4 times.
As a Catholic can I deny the legitimacy of her marriage license?
MY God says you can't get married more than once unless you are widowed or get an annulment.

As an Orthodox: the clerk's fourth marriage would never be recognized by the Byzantine church and she would be excommunicated.

What all this points to is the necessity of seperating the civil ceremony of marriage from religious services.

Go to the Mayor or Magesterial District Judge for the civil ceremony.   Go to your Priest, Pastor, Rabbi, or Imam for the relgious service.  Do not expect that each should do the other's job.

Let the state define marriage as it wants. 

Let the religious bodies act according to their beliefs.

End of matter.