Attorneys for Gov. Matt Bevin say former Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis engaged in “conduct that violates civil rights," putting her on the hook for $225,000 in fees and court costs.
That’s despite the governor’s glowing words about Davis, who famously refused to grant marriage licenses in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage in 2015.
"I think Kim Davis is, without question, an inspiration," Bevin said in a video posted by the Liberty Counsel last year, "not only to leaders like myself, people in the public arena and those outside the public arena, but to my children, to the children of America."
Now, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports lawyers for the governor are citing behavior by Davis that “stood in direct conflict with her statutory obligation.”
The courts had ruled in 2017 that the state of Kentucky must pay the fees and costs incurred by the couples who sued. The paper reports a panel is slated to hear new arguments about the expenses Thursday.
Davis lost her 2018 reelection bid to Democrat Elwood Caudill Jr.
