LOUISVILLE — The Rowan County, Ky., clerk who was jailed last week for failing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples was ordered released from jail Tuesday (Sept. 8).
U.S. District Judge David Bunning, who jailed Kim Davis for contempt of court Thursday, ordered her freed, saying he was satisfied her deputies have complied with his order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex and straight couples.
In a two-page order, Bunning ordered the U.S. Marshal Service to her release on the condition that she shall not “interfere in any way, directly or indirectly, with the efforts of her deputy clerks to issue marriage licenses to all legally eligible couples.
He ordered court-appointed lawyers for the deputies to report every 14 days on their compliance.
Davis’ lawyers did not immediately respond to questions about whether she will comply with the order.
Bunning said he had been given a report by lawyers for the four couples who sued Davis that her deputies were now issuing licenses.
The news comes the same day as a rally in support of Davis was planned outside the Carter County Detention Center, where Davis was being held.
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee planned to attend the rally in Grayson, Ky. Authorities were expecting large crowds.
(Andrew Wolfson writes for The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal.)
