A clerk from Kentucky, has been ordered to pay an additional $260,000 to a same-sex couple after she refused to give them a marriage license.
A federal judge has ruled that Kim Davis, the former Kentucky clerk notorious for refusing a marriage license to a same-sex couple, must pay the additional money in attorney fees and expenses to the now-husbands, David Ermold and David Moore.
This ruling comes on top of the $100,000 awarded to Ermold and Moore by a federal jury in September, marking another legal setback for Davis.
The former Rowan County clerk, a Republican, spent five days in jail in 2015 for contempt of court after refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples following the Supreme Court's landmark decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, per the New York Post.
US District Judge David Bunning, the same judge who sentenced Davis to jail in 2015, declared that she must cover the legal fees of Ermold and Moore as they successfully won their lawsuit against her.
Bunning stated: "They sought to vindicate their fundamental right to marry and obtain marriage licenses, and they did so," as reported by the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Michael Gartland represented the couple from the DelCotto Law Group in Lexington, as well as Joseph Buckles, also a Lexington attorney, and the Public Citizens Law Group in Washington, DC. Gartland expressed satisfaction with the ruling, stating: "We got every last penny that we asked for."
However, Liberty Counsel, a religious liberty organization representing Davis, argued that the fees were excessive and planned to appeal the judge's decision. If the motion is denied, the group intends to take the case to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Liberty Counsel's founder and chairman Mat Staver argued that Davis "is entitled to protection to an accommodation based on her sincere religious belief."
"This case raises serious First Amendment free exercise of religion claims and has a high potential of reaching the Supreme Court," Staver added.
Last year, Judge Bunning ruled that Davis could not use her own constitutional rights as a shield to violate the constitutional rights of others while performing her duties as an elected official. Davis, an evangelical Christian, defended her actions by citing her belief that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.
Republican Davis ran for reelection for the Rowan County clerkship in 2018 but was unsuccessful - losing out to Democrat Elwood Caudill Jr.