Kim Davis broke open records law by refusing documents: Kentucky Attorney General
Kim Davis with Mat Staver (Getty)
The Kentucky Attorney General has said that Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, who went to jail rather than letting gays marry, violated the state’s Open Records Act.
Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear this week said the clerk violated the Open Records Act by refusing to publish documents in relation to same-sex marriage.
He announced an opinion which said the Rowan County clerk had violated the law.
According to the Lexintgon Herald-Leader, the Campaign for Accountability had requested records between Davis and her Liberty Counsel attorneys on 1 March.
The Liberty Counsel refused to provide documents following the request, after saying they were private and preliminary.
Davis was sued for refusing to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples, and was represented by Liberty Counsel.
Under the Open Records Act, which provides for costs and fees to be awarded in some cases, up to $25 a day could be awarded for the time the records were not provided.
But Liberty Counsel attorneys could appeal the opinion from Beshear.
Mat Staver, a Liberty Counsel attorney, said: “There’s nothing to reveal here,” saying the firm did not charge Kim Davis for representing her.
Davis, who has been married four times, was briefly jailed for contempt of court last year after she defied direct orders from a court in order to block gay people from getting married.
Represented by extreme anti-LGBT law firm Liberty Counsel, Davis had pursued an appeal calling for “religious liberty accommodation” allowing her to opt-out of gay weddings.
Under a compromise law signed by the state’s Republican Governor Mat Bevan in April, clerks will no longer play any direct legal role in signing marriage licenses in Kentucky – a resolution which appears to have satisfied Davis who dropped her legal action against the state.
The state’s marriage laws previously dictated: “Each county clerk shall use the form for the issuance of a marriage license.”
It now reads: “Each county clerk shall make available to the public the form for the issuance of a marriage license.”
