 FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The Republican president of the Kentucky state Senate has asked a federal judge to withhold his ruling ordering a county clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The state legislature is not in session and won't be until January. However, the lawmakers said they doubted there would be a special session because Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear has refused to call for a special session, arguing it would waste taxpayer money for an issue that only affects one clerk. "The Supreme Court ruling has completely obliterated the definition of marriage and the process for obtaining a marriage license in Kentucky," Stivers said in a news release. "The General Assembly will be compelled to amend many sections of Kentucky law, not just for the issuance of marriage licenses, to comply with the recent Supreme Court decision," Stivers said in a statement. Davis has refused to give anyone a marriage license since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage June 26, citing her religious objections. Apart from Davis, clerks in Casey and Whitley counties have refused to comply with the Supreme Court decision. The contempt hearing is scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday at the U.S. District Courthouse in Ashland. Davis told U.S. District Judge David Bunning it's unfair to punish her for violating his Aug. 12 order requiring her to resume issuing marriage licenses because she "is presently unable to comply." Davis said the order "irreparably and irreversibly violates her conscience by directing her to authorize and issue same-sex marriage licenses bearing her name and approval." Both gubernatorial candidates in Kentucky have indicated an intent to support county clerks' individual rights," wrote Jonathan Christman, one of Davis' attorneys. Attorneys for the couples suing Davis have said she should be fined because she continues to earn a taxpayer-funded salary "for duties she fails to perform."
– Can county clerk Kim Davis refuse to issue same-sex marriage licenses, keep her job, and avoid a contempt of court charge? She seems to think so, and the president of Kentucky's senate is on her side. Davis is due before a federal judge at 11am, and in a last-minute legal filing, she argues that it would be unfair to punish her for disobeying an order that she is "presently unable" to comply with because it "irreparably and irreversibly violates her conscience," the Lexington Herald-Leader reports. Republican Senate President Robert Stivers filed a brief asking the judge to delay his ruling until the state has had a chance to change its marriage laws to accommodate Davis. "The Supreme Court ruling has completely obliterated the definition of marriage and the process for obtaining a marriage license in Kentucky," Stivers said in a statement. He wants to pass a law exempting Davis from issuing licenses, but the state legislature isn't due in session until January and Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear doesn't want to call a special session, the AP reports. Davis, whose case has already been rejected by the Supreme Court, says it would violate her conscience to "issue a marriage license which conflicts with God’s definition of marriage, with my name affixed to the certificate," and one of her lawyers tells NBC she is looking at options including issuing licenses that don't have her name on them. (Davis' own marital history is pretty tangled.)