Rowan county clerk Kim Davis has been placed in jail for an indefinite period of time after a judge found her in contempt on Thursday.
U.S. District Judge David Bunning said that "her good faith belief is simply not a viable defense" for refusing to grant marriage licenses to both gay and straight couples in Rowan County, which is located in Morehead, Kentucky.
"The court cannot condone the willful disobedience of its lawfully issued order ... If you give people the opportunity to choose which orders they follow, that's what potentially causes problems," Bunning said.
Civil contempt does not have a definitive jail time due to the fact that it's "not supposed to be punitive, it's supposed to coerce the person to obey the judge's order," Adam Winkler, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, told the New York Times. Winkler added that Davis could be freed for one of two reasons: Davis could promise to comply with the judge's orders, or the judge could simply let her free determining that "more jail time will not encourage her to obey."
Thus far, Davis has disobeyed orders to give marriage licenses, and she also has refused to allow the deputies of Rowan county to grant marriage licenses under her authority. Agreeing to the latter could have freed her from custody.
Five out of six deputies in Rowan County told Judge Bunning they would grant marriage licenses to couples.
Davis' actions over the past several months have brought about polarized responses from the public. Both supporters and opponents gathered in front of the courthouse on Thursday morning, and the courtroom was filled to its 300-person capacity with some 100 more people unable to enter.
Opponents argue that her religious convictions are infringing on her job as a government-employed official.
"No public official is above the rule of law, certainly not president of the United States, but neither is the Rowan county clerk," said Josh Earnest, White House press secretary.
"Religious liberty is not a sword with which government, through its employees, may impose particular religious views on others," said William Sharp, the attorney representing the four couples against Davis in the lawsuit.
Supporters argue that there could have been other options to keep Davis' conscience clear, while giving access to marriage licenses to the couples.
"Everyone is stunned at this development. Kim Davis is being treated as a criminal because she cannot violate her conscience. While she may be behind bars for now, Kim Davis is a free woman. Her conscience remains unshackled," said Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, which is representing Davis in this case. "The tragedy is that there are simple ways to accommodate her convictions. Just remove her name from the marriage licenses. That's all she has asked from the beginning. Today's events will escalate this debate to a new level."
Bethany Jenkins, director of Every Square Inch, The Gospel Coalition's faith and work ministry, argued that opponents had "political options, too."
"Davis is an elected official whose oversight includes marriage licenses as well as legal records, voter rolls, elections, taxes, and more," Jenkins wrote on The Gospel Coalition on Monday. "If Rowan County citizens want to replace her, they can vote for someone else in the next election cycle. That's how politics works."
Davis' refusal to grant marriage licenses to couples began almost immediately after the Supreme Court ruling on June 26 that legalized same-sex marriages in the nation.
"It's a deep-rooted conviction; my conscience won't allow me to do that," Davis told the Associated Press the first time she refused licenses in early July. "It goes against everything I hold dear, everything sacred in my life."
