Will it be business as usual when Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis assumes her old post at Rowan County within this week following her release from prison on Tuesday?
Davis' lawyers from Liberty Counsel said some changes may have to be made once she returns to her office desk.
After signing Davis' release order, US District Judge David Bunning said the Rowan County clerk should not interfere when her deputies fulfill their obligations to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples in lieu of her. If she does, Bunning warned of new sanctions and possible return to jail.
However, Davis will not be compelled to put her signature on the marriage licences if she has objections based on her religious beliefs.
Atty. Roger Gannam from Liberty Counsel said there is still a problem under this arrangement proposed by the judge. Davis will not contest marriage licences signed by another authority, but she will not allow same-sex marriage licences to be issued under her authority, the lawyer said.
Speaking CNN's "New Day," Gannam explained: "The bottom line is that Kim Davis cannot personally authorise a union of persons that she does not believe is marriage according to her religious beliefs. That's all she's doing—withholding her personal authorisation of that."
"Because her deputy clerks only have authority to issue licences under Kim Davis' authority, they can't do it either," Gannam said. "But if they can issue licences under someone else's authority and in someone else's name, Kim Davis would not stand in the way of that."
Liberty Counsel founder Matt Staver also said that all that their client wants is for her name to be physically removed from same-sex marriage licence documents and not anymore to put a stop to same-sex marriages in her state.
"She's asked for one simple accommodation for her faith—not just for her, but for all the other clerks in Kentucky that are similarly situated—and that is, remove her name and title from the marriage certificates. That's all she's asking for," he said.
"She'll issue the certificates, but she doesn't want her name and title on it because that in her understanding and mind is authorising something that is contrary to her Christian values and convictions," Staver added. "The judge should just order the marriage licences to remove her name and title, and that would solve the matter."
