COVINGTON, Ky. — A Kentucky county clerk being sued by a civil rights group over her refusal to issue same-sex marriage licenses testified in federal court Monday that she has been considering how her office would handle the issue since she took office in January.

Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis said she and other county clerks wrote to as many state legislators as they could find addresses for in January, asking for a bill to be drafted in order to protect clerks from issuing licenses that conflicted with their religious convictions. The U.S. Supreme Court June 26 decision legalized gay marriage in all 50 states, prompting clerks in Kentucky and 13 other states where it had previously been illegal to issue licenses to same-sex couples for the first time.

“It was not a spur-of-the-moment thing for me,” she said Monday. “I prayed and fasted weekly before the (Supreme Court) decision.”

Davis, whose rural county of 23,000 people is about 60 miles east of Lexington, said she has ordered her office to stop issuing any marriage licenses because she did not want to violate her religious beliefs.

Davis and Rowan County government are being sued by the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky on behalf of four Rowan couples — two same-sex, two opposite-sex — that were denied licenses either by her or by her county clerk office. U.S. District Judge David Bunning did not make a decision on whether to make Davis’ office begin issuing gay marriage licenses. He said a decision would come as early as the week of Aug. 11

Rowan County Judge-Executive Walter “Doc” Blevins, Jr. also testified Monday, saying he and Davis had “talked for a while” about her potential conflict with a U.S. Supreme Court decision that would legalize gay marriage. 

“She’s very religious and she said she would not be issuing licenses to anyone because she didn’t want to only do for one group,” Blevins said, adding Davis later voiced concern of the narrow 5-4 margin of the Supreme Court decision and possibility that the decision could be changed within 30 days.

Blevins said despite his personal religious objection, he would issue a license based on the law.

Davis said six full-time clerks and another employee operating on alternative hours work in her office. She testified that four of these clerks told her they had religious objections to issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, one person was “ambiguous” with their views, and one was willing to issue licenses.

Bunning asked Davis if she would fire, or otherwise discipline, a clerk who issued a license. She said the license would still have her name on it. The judge repeated his question and then she answered, “They would not be able to without my authority.”

Bunning repeated his question to Davis a third time, but she then refused to answer because she said the question was based off speculation and she was unsure of how to appropriately respond.

Davis later clarified she did not have any intention to discipline this employee based on their beliefs and described the deputy clerk as “loyal” and “very dedicated” to the job.

When Davis was questioned about her oath to uphold the U.S. and Kentucky Constitutions, she defended her decision by saying it was covered federally under the First Amendment’s freedom of religion.

“The Kentucky Constitution, so far, hasn’t been re-written. That takes an act of legislation,” she said, and therefore, she believes she is still upholding state law.

When ACLU attorney Dan Canon asked Davis if she made a conscious decision not to follow the U.S. Constitution in not issuing licenses, she paused, then said no.

Near the end of the hearing, Canon asked Davis who she believed had the “final say” in interpreting the U.S. Constitution.

To this, Casey County Clerk Casey Davis, who has also halted the issuance of marriage licenses in the county he serves, whispered from his front row seat in the gallery, “God.”

“I don’t know,” Davis answered.

Casey Davis said he has not been sued over his office’s non-issuance of licenses and marriage license requests have only been made to his office over the phone.

Bellamy writes for the Ashland (Kentucky) Daily Independent.