KENTUCKY: Liberty Counsel Tells Court That Clerk Is A "Conscientious Objector"

The Liberty Counsel yesterday filed a motion in the ACLU's lawsuit against four-times-married Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis in which they characterize her as being similar to an anti-war conscientious objector.

“Like a noncombatant who cannot shoulder a rifle, a county clerk who cannot issue” same-sex licenses “can still faithfully and devotedly serve this country, and their county,” lawyers for Kim Davis argued in a pleading filed Thursday in U.S. District Court. Asking Judge David Bunning to deny an injunction forcing Davis to begin issuing licenses again, attorneys Roger Gannam and Jonathan Christman from the Orlando-based Liberty Counsel note that Kentucky law allows county clerks an exemption from issuing fishing and hunting licenses. “If Kentucky is able to accommodate personal beliefs and conscientious objection regarding something that is (to some) as trivial as fishing and hunting, surely Kentucky can and must provide similar accommodation for deeply held beliefs about the fundamental nature of marriage,” they said in their pleading.

The ACLU has seven days to respond to the latest motion. Earlier this month Davis testified that she had "prayed and fasted" about her decision to disobey the Supreme Court. The final ruling in the case is expected in mid-August. Kentucky's county clerks are elected and can only be removed by the state legislature, which is out of session until January. Davis and other renegade clerks face fines and jail for contempt of court should the ruling go against them.

ALABAMA: SPLC Updates Complaint That Roy Moore Has Violated Judicial Ethics

AL.com reports:

In its filing today, SPLC says Moore has committed new ethics violations by improperly commenting on pending or impending cases in numerous speeches and interviews; by suggesting that Supreme Court precedent need not be followed; and by announcing that he would recuse himself from cases rather than apply precedents with which he disagreed. The SPLC also contends Moore's continued association with the Foundation for Moral Law also violates the Alabama Canon of Judicial Ethics. Moore's wife, Kayla, services as the president of the legal services organization; Moore is listed as president emeritus.

"Justice Moore has been removed from office for unethical actions once before, but it's clear that he hasn't learned his lesson," SPLC President Richard Cohen said in a statement. "It's obviously unethical for him to urge defiance of a United States Supreme Court ruling. He needs to understand that he is a judge, not a preacher." The SPLC complaint states that in a July 7 interview with political activist Randall Terry, Moore indicated that he was in "active" conflict with the federal judiciary over its "horrendous opinion" in the same-sex marriage case and was fighting the same-sex ruling with briefs and speeches.

The SPLC's original complaint, filed in January, contends that Moore is "encouraging lawlessness by attempting to assemble state officials and judges to oppose the federal court system."

MICHIGAN: Marriage Attorneys Petition State For $2 Million In Compensation

Via Detroit's ABC affiliate:

The six lawyers who worked on the case against Michigan's ban on same-sex marriage are asking for nearly $2 million from the state to cover some of their fees. In all, the six attorneys - Carole Stanyar, Dana Nessel, Kenneth Mogill, Robert Sedler, Mary Bonauto and Vickie Henry - said the total calculation came to $1,927,450 for their fees. Every attorney charged $350 an hour, with three of them putting in over 1,000 hours of work each in the case. Though the Supreme Court ruled in favor of their case, there is a provision through what is called the private attorney general doctrine that not only makes it, "possible for non-affluent litigants to obtain legal representation, but to reward attorneys whose services has benefited the public interest."

The attorneys say their work on the marriage case made it impossible to take other cases for the last three years. See their filing.

TRAILER: History In The Making

Clip recap:

This feature-length documentary, History In The Making: The Marriage Equality New York Archives 2007-2015, follows an all-grassroots organization, Marriage Equality New York (or MENY) from the NYC streets to Albany and eventually to the Supreme Court. Directed & edited by Fred Anguera. Filmed by Cristina Wolff, Rob Martin, Reed Davis, Fred Anguera, Emmanuel Migrino, Carmine Nicholas Tzavis. Appearances by Cathy Marino-Thomas, Edie Windsor, Brendan Fay, Margaret Cho, Maggie Gallagher, Sen. Thomas Duane, Christine Quinn, Danny O'Donnell, Candy Samples, Gilbert Baker, Chic, Ann Northrop, Gov. David Paterson, Sassy, Ron Zacchi, Fred Anguera, Sheila & Jackie Marino-Thomas, Cynthia Nixon, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Kate & Darcy Tuscano and more.

Get tickets to the screening.

Rick Santorum: I Regret That I Ever Said That "Man On Dog" Thing About Gays

Last night Rick Santorum sat down for a rare and lengthy interview with Rachel Maddow. Raw Story zeroes in on the SCOTUS portion:

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow shot down Republican presidential contender Rick Santorum on Wednesday when he tried to argue that Congress could overturn the Supreme Court’s ruling legalizing marriage equality. “You’re fundamentally wrong on civics,” Maddow said. “If there is a question as to the constitutionality of a law, it gets adjudicated. The second syllable in that word means it gets decided in the judiciary. The Supreme Court decides whether or not a law is constitutional. So you could not now pass a law that said, ‘We’re banning same-sex marriage.'” Santorum then argued that “Congress can pass anything it wants to pass,” regardless of the high court’s decisions to justify passing a new ban on same-sex marriages. “So you want them to pass a moot bill?” Maddow asked. “It wouldn’t be moot,” he insisted, saying that the court could find it “misread the tea leaves” between its ruling last month and a possible new bill.

After the above exchange, Maddow asks if Santorum believes that people choose to be gay. Minutes later Santorum said that he now regrets his "flippant" 2003 comment that decriminalizing homosexuality will lead to legalizing "man on dog" sex. He added, however, that he stands by his overall "slippery slope" contention about LGBT rights.

Ted Cruz Convenes Senate Hearing On "SCOTUS Activism" - Calls Hate Group Leader John Eastman As Witness

Yesterday Ted Cruz convened a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight, which he chairs, in order to call for reining in the "judicial tyranny" of the Supreme Court. One of the three witnesses he called was NOM chairman John Eastman. MSNBC reports:

Eastman agreed with Cruz’s proposals on judicial term limits and retention elections, but added one more “check” to the judicial branch – that states be given the ability to override “egregiously wrong decisions of the Supreme Court.” Cruz seemed interested in the idea, and asked for Eastman to elaborate. “The massive transfer of power from states to the federal government that came in the wake of the Civil War … unmoored the courts,” Eastman said. “A simple majority of the states ought to be able to override those kinds of decisions of the Supreme Court.”

The irony of such prescriptions was undoubtedly not lost on many of those watching Wednesday’s hearing. In order to correct what Cruz views as a series of decisions that have no basis in the U.S. Constitution, as well as what he considers to be an unconstitutional transgression by the justices into the realm of policy making, Cruz entertained several solutions – such as judicial term limits, retention elections, and state or Congressional overrides of “egregiously wrong decisions” – that would serve to dramatically alter the U.S. Constitution, not restore or strengthen it,

Today Cruz posted his opening statement to his presidential campaign channel on YouTube.

Quote Of The Day - Jim Obergefell

"I would like future law students to know that my case as well as the cases of the other plaintiffs that really it was about love. Telling our government that our love is just as worthy as any other love. The fact that standing up for that love led to such a momentous change proves that it’s a very powerful force. Although the law can be antiseptic and divorced from emotion, the fact that ours was based on love - I think it improved the law because they could look at us and recognize that we deserve the same amount of respect as anyone else." - Jim Obergefell, participating in yesterday's "Ask Me Anything" on Reddit. Hit the link for much more.

Brian Brown: We Can Still Undo This

Via press release from NOM:

Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage, recently joined Republican presidential candidates and conservative luminaries in addressing the 2,500 activists who attended the FAMiLY LEADER’s Family Leadership Summit, which NOM was proud to co-sponsor. In his interview, Brown discussed the Supreme Court’s Obergefell decision, and counseled conservatives on what to do next. "We must overturn this decision. This point is a particularly daunting task. In the upcoming election we need to elect a president who will champion the cause for the family, and work to overturn this decision within the next election cycle. Until we overturn Obergefell, we must contain the effects of the decision. There are a number of ways to contain the effects of the ruling, including FADA, a bill that guarantees first amendment rights." Brown ended on an optimistic note, saying never to give up hope; all things are possible with God. He then said that we should be glad that we are to be persecuted—for we have an extraordinary opportunity to stand up for truth.

Desperation Move By Janet Porter

Via Right Wing Watch:

Faith 2 Action's Janet Porter is currently leading an effort to pressure Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine "to file a Motion to Rehear Obergefell v. Hodges" with the Supreme Court, so that the recently decided gay marriage case can be reargued, this time without the participation of Justices Elena Kagan and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whom Porter insists must recuse themselves. The window for filing such a motion closes tomorrow and having received no support from DeWine, Porter is now getting increasingly desperate and has expanded her call to the attorneys general of Michigan, Tennessee, and Kentucky, sending out an email today warning that they will be responsible when "Christianity is criminalized" and Christians are "carted off to jail" because they failed to get the gay marriage decision overturned

See the full crazy rant here.

Headline Of The Day

Anti-gay nutter Ryan Sorba writes for BarbWire:

The U.S. Supreme Court “same-sex marriage” fight is not completely over. According to the Court’s published rules, within 25 days of a ruling, a party can ask the Court for a rehearing if there are pertinent issues meriting appeal. The 25 day period to file for a rehearing expires on Tuesday, July 21. Opponents of same-sex marriage must contact the attorneys general for the four states that lost the Obergefell case, and ask them to apply immediately for a rehearing of the case. Contact information is listed in the video below. The issue of merit here is that Justices Kagan and Ginsberg, both of whom ruled for same-sex marriage, were clearly REQUIRED by federal law to recuse themselves from this case. Please avail yourself of the contact information within the video and demand that Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine file for a rehearing.

Several anti-gay hate groups have been urging their followers to deluge DeWine with demands that he file for rehearing Obergefell, but there have been no reports thus far that he is considering doing so.

Marriage Support Drops Post-Obergefell

The Associated Press reports that support for same-sex marriage has dropped six points since the Obergefell ruling.

The poll was conducted July 9 to July 13, less than three weeks after the Supreme Court ruled states cannot ban same-sex marriage. According to the poll, 42 percent support same-sex marriage and 40 percent oppose it. The percentage saying they favor legal same-sex marriage in their state was down slightly from the 48 percent who said so in an April poll. In January, 44 percent were in favor. Asked specifically about the Supreme Court ruling, 39 percent said they approve and 41 percent said they disapprove.

"What the Supreme Court did is jeopardize our religious freedoms," said Michael Boehm, 61, an industrial controls engineer from the Detroit area who describes himself as a conservative-leaning independent. "You're going to see a conflict between civil law and people who want to live their lives according to their faiths," Boehm said. Boehm was among 59 percent of the poll respondents who said wedding-related businesses with religious objections should be allowed to refuse service to gay and lesbian couples. That compares with 52 percent in April.

The poll also shows that 46% believe businesses should be able to refuse same-sex couples.

Marco Rubio: We Need More Scalias

Justice Anthony Kennedy Compares Marriage Uproar To Flag Burning Ruling

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy yesterday compared to the right wing uproar to his Obergefell opinion to the public outcry which followed the court's ruling that flag burning is a form of free speech. 

Kennedy, who was the deciding vote in both cases, described how the reaction decades ago was critical at first but changed over time. His remarks at the 9th Circuit Judicial Conference were his first public comments since he wrote the decision last month that put an end to same-sex marriage bans in 14 states. Kennedy drew the comparison in response to a moderator's question about how justices weather reaction to closely watched rulings. "Eighty senators went to the floor of the Senate to denounce the court," he said of the 1989 ruling. "President Bush took the week off and visited flag factories, but I noticed that after two or three months people began thinking about the issues."

Kennedy believes that controversial rulings such as Obergefell "draw down on a capital of trust" which the court replenishes with less controversial rulings.

Ryan T. Anderson: The Book

The new book by Heritage Foundation spokes-hater Ryan T. Anderson has launched on Amazon. From the product recap:

Attacks on religious liberty--predicated on the bogus equation of opposition to same-sex marriage with racism--have already begun, and modest efforts in Indiana and other states to protect believers' rights have met with hysterics from media and corporate elites. Anderson tells the stories of innocent citizens who have been coerced and penalized by the government and offers a strategy to protect the natural right of religious liberty. Anderson reports on the latest research on same-sex parenting, filling it out with the testimony of children raised by gays and lesbians. He closes with a comprehensive roadmap on how to rebuild a culture of marriage, with work to be done by everyone. The nation's leading defender of marriage in the media and on university campuses, Ryan Anderson has produced the must-read manual on where to go from here. There are reasonable and compelling arguments for the truth about marriage, but too many of our neighbors haven't heard them. Truth is never on "the wrong side of history," but we have to make the case. We will decide which side of history we are on.

We presume that one of the "children raised by gays" is infamous crackpot Robert Oscar Lopez. The book is endorsed by NOM founder Robert George, Southern Baptists leader Russell Moore, and megachurch Pastor Rick Warren. Even though the book just launched today, it's already gotten a couple of gushing five-star reviews. (Tipped by JMG reader Christopher)

Kentucky Clerk: Following The Law Is A Violation Of My Christian Rights

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear has told Casey County Clerk Casey Davis to resign or do his job. Another Kentucky clerk, Rowan County's Kim Davis, is being sued by the ACLU. All of Kentucky's renegade clerks face being jailed for contempt of court if they continue to defy SCOTUS. The clerks in Kentucky are elected and can only be removed by the state legislature.

Rick Santorum: We Need A Federal Constitutional Ban On Gay Marriage

Via Bloomberg:

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum said Monday he wants a constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman in all 50 states, less than three weeks after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. “I believe we need a national standard for marriage. I don't think we can have a standard from one state to another on what marriage is,” Santorum told reporters at a breakfast in Washington hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, adding that he wants “to define marriage the way it was defined for 4,000 years of human history.” The remarks put Santorum to the right of rivals such as Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, who are pushing a different kind of constitutional amendment that would allow states to decide whether to allow or ban same-sex marriage, rather than an amendment that would set a national standard.

Santorum's position may be news to Bloomberg, but it's not to NOM as last week he became the first 2016 presidential candidate to sign their hate pledge. Here's the very first line: "I pledge to the American people that if elected President, I will support a federal constitutional amendment that protects marriage as the union of one man and one woman." In 2012 every major GOP candidate ended up signing NOM's pledge. It's rather interesting that so far only Santorum has signed the 2016 pledge.

Mat Staver: Obergefell Requires Christians To Rip Pages Out Of Their Bibles

"There is existing precedent for a state’s highest court to reject an unlawful mandate from the U.S. Supreme Court. The hope of our Constitutional Republic rests upon state officials and American citizens who will refuse to allow five, black-robed judges to rob us of our free, representative form of government. A judicial opinion without constitutional basis is not law and should not be followed by any state or citizen. Never before in America has a religious requirement been required to hold office or own a business, and it cannot begin now. To require Christians to pull out pages of their Bible in order to hold office or own a business is anti-American and it is unconstitutional, despite what any judge may say otherwise." - Hate group leader Mat Staver, whose Liberty Counsel has advised the Alabama Supreme Court to defy the Obergefell ruling.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch Announces Full Federal Marriage Benefits Nationwide

"Following the Supreme Court’s historic decision in Obergefell that every couple has the same right to participate in the institution of marriage, whether the partners are of the same-sex or opposite sexes, I directed Justice Department staff to work with the agencies to ensure that the ruling be given full effect across the federal government. Thanks to their leadership and the quick work of the Social Security Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs, today I am proud to announce that the critical programs for veterans and elderly and disabled Americans, which previously could not give effect to the marriages of couples living in states that did not recognize those marriages, will now provide federal recognition for all marriages nationwide. The agencies are currently working towards providing guidance to implement this change in law.

"Just over a year ago, Attorney General Holder announced that agencies across the federal government had implemented the Supreme Court’s Windsor decision by treating married same-sex couples the same as married opposite-sex couples to the greatest extent possible under the law as it then stood. With the Supreme Court’s new ruling that the Constitution requires marriage equality, we have now taken the further step of ensuring that all federal benefits will be available equally to married couples in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the US Territories. The department will continue to work across the administration to fulfill our commitment to equal treatment for all Americans, including equal access to the benefits of marriage that the Obergefell decision guarantees. - Attorney General Loretta Lynch, via White House press release.

ALABAMA: Liberty Counsel Advises State Supreme Court On Defying Obergefell

Via Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog:

Asked by the Alabama Supreme Court for advice on what to do next on same-sex marriage, two conservative advocacy groups in the state have urged both direct and indirect resistance to the Supreme Court’s ruling mandating a constitutional right for gays and lesbians to wed. The state court, the groups argued, has the constitutional power to refuse even to accept what the Justices have done, and has a constitutional duty to insulate state officials from legal risk if they do not obey the decision based on a religious objection.

The thirty-three-page brief was filed on Monday by the Alabama Policy Institution, a think tank, and by the Alabama Citizens Action Program, an inter-denominational church support group, which earlier had persuaded the state’s highest court to block all of the state’s sixty-eight probate judges from issuing any marriage licenses to same-sex couples, even though all of them were under an order to do so by a federal judge in Mobile.

Depending on what the state court now does, it could set up a new federal-state collision that potentially could go to the Supreme Court. Lower federal courts could take direct action against state trial court judges, but only the Supreme Court could review a decision by the Alabama Supreme Court on a federal constitutional issue.

Co-authoring the brief is Liberty Counsel head Mat Staver.

RELATED: Thirteen Alabama counties have stopped issuing all marriage licenses.

The 13 counties that have stopped issuing licenses are home to an estimated 464 same-sex couples, 20% of which are raising children. A total of 441,437 people live within the impacted counties and a majority of these counties have poverty rates exceeding the state average of 18.6%. “These closures are causing unnecessary complications and burdens for any couple – gay or straight – who seeks to marry in their home county. Why should a couple have to drive for over an hour to get a marriage license? What if a couple can’t marry because they have an unreliable car, or they can’t get the time off work? We urge all counties in Alabama to immediately begin issuing licenses to same-sex and opposite-sex couples,” says Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara of the Campaign for Southern Equality, which promotes LGBT equality across the South.

KANSAS: Gov. Sam Brownback Issues Executive Order On Religious Freedom

Today in wingnut grandstanding:

Gov. Sam Brownback issued an executive order Tuesday prohibiting state government from taking "discriminatory action" against a clergy member or religious organization that "chooses not to participate in a marriage that is inconsistent with its sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman." The order comes in the wake of last month's Supreme Court ruling that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marriage. “We have a duty to govern and to govern in accordance with the Constitution as it has been determined by the Supreme Court decision," Brownback said in a statement. "We also recognize that religious liberty is at the heart of who we are as Kansans and Americans, and should be protected."

Equality Kansas reacts:

Our initial interpretation of this order is simple: It’s one part scare tactics, one part ducking his constitutional responsibility. According to the order, clergy will not be required to officiate at same-sex marriages. No kidding. This has never happened, is not happening, and will never happen. This part of the order is nothing but political scare tactic. The rest of the order is more problematic. The plain language seems to suggest that religious organizations that have contracts to provide taxpayer-funded social services will be able to deny taxpayer-funded services to LGBT Kansans. We are still having this analyzed by our attorneys, but if this proves to be the case, the Governor should be prepared to find himself on the losing end of more expensive litigation. We are incredibly disappointed by Governor Brownback. Instead of treating LGBT Kansans fairly, his only act has been to double-down on treating us as second class citizens. We’re having our attorneys evaluate the specifics of the order.

Back in January 2015, Brownback rescinded the previous administration's 2007 executive order which protected LGBT state workers from employment discrimination. He'd apparently had no issue with that order for his first four years in office, but he had do something after both the Tenth Circuit Court and SCOTUS refused to hear marriage appeals.