A US federal jury has ordered former Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis to pay $100,000 in damages to a same-sex couple she refused to issue a marriage licence to in 2015. The case, which drew national attention, resulted in Davis spending five days in jail for contempt of court.
District Judge David Bunning awarded $50,000 each to David Ermold and David Moore on 13 September. A second couple, James Yates and Will Smith, received no damages. Davis, who served as Rowan County clerk, cited her Christian beliefs that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.
Judge Bunning had previously found Davis guilty of violating the couples' constitutional rights, stating she 'cannot use her own constitutional rights as a shield to violate the constitutional rights of others while performing her duties as an elected official.'
Davis's lawyers, Liberty Counsel, said they plan to appeal the decision and take the case to the US Supreme Court. However, the Supreme Court had already declined to hear an appeal from Davis in 2020, according to the Associated Press.
Michael Gartland, who represented Ermold and Moore, said his clients 'couldn't be happier' with the verdict. Davis lost her re-election bid in 2018 and has since become a symbol of religious freedom for some conservatives.
