An attorney for Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis says that marriage licenses issued by her deputy clerks while she was in jail are invalid because she didn’t authorize them.
Lawyer Mat Staver says Davis still won’t issue the forms and those signed by her deputy clerks “aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on.”
Others say Kentucky law explicitly allows deputy clerks to grant marriage licenses.
University of Kentucky Law Professor Louise Graham says that once a marriage license is issued, it can’t be taken back.
“The people who got those marriage licenses really didn’t have any control over whatever the defect in the marriage license was," said Graham. "The people who issued the marriage licenses don’t have any standing to challenge the validity of the marriage.”
Davis’ attorneys argue that she has the final authority over whether marriage licenses are issued in the county, but University of Illinois Law Professor Robin Wilson says that the law explicitly qualifies deputy clerks to issue marriage licenses as well.
“That authorization statement literally can be signed by not only the county clerk but a deputy clerk and it says it right there on the face of the code," said Wilson.
Davis has been warned by a federal judge to not interfere in the issuance of marriage licenses, or face further sanctions.
Five deputy Rowan County clerks have said they are willing to issue marriage licenses. One of them, Brian Mason, says he will continue to issue them even if Kim Davis tells him to stop.
