Rowan county clerk Kim Davis should be impeached from her office for her failure to uphold the law. 

Davis, a county clerk from Rowan County in Kentucky, gained national attention starting in August for refusing to allow those working in her office to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Davis states that it goes against her religious beliefs to allow same-sex couples to

be married.  

On Sept. 3 the case was agrued before U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky which ruled that Davis could not continue to deny the issuing of marriage licenses to same-sex couples. U.S. District Judge David Bunning sentenced Davis to five days in jail for contempt after Davis continued to deny the issuance of marriage licenses based on whether the couples in question were of the same sex or not. Davis was released when her deputies started to issue licenses to the couples previously denied. 

Constantly jailing Davis will not solve the issue. While in jail Davis claimed that none of the licenses were valid since she did not sign them and therefore the marriages did not count.  The only way to keep Davis from stopping the marriage licenses is to remove her from office through impeachment. Davis has already stated that she will not resign from office on her own; however, the Kentucky state government can remove her under violation of her oath of office.

Davis has gone against the very oath she took. According to the Kentucky government statutes, the oath she took was: “I, ….., do swear that I will well and truly discharge the duties of the office of ………….. County Circuit Court clerk, according to the best of my skill and judgment, making the due entries and records of all orders, judgments, decrees, opinions and proceedings of the court, and carefully filing and preserving in my office all books and papers which come to my possession by virtue of my office; and that I will not knowingly or willingly commit any malfeasance of office, and will faithfully execute the duties of my office without favor, affection or partiality, so help me God.” 

By not allowing her deputies to issues the marriage licenses, Davis violated the terms that she would “faithfully execute the duties of my office without favor, affection or partiality.” Davis acted in partiality toward opposite-sex couples applying for marriage licenses and failed to uphold the Supreme Court ruling on the legality of gay marriage, which the Kentucky court was to carry out. 

Davis also failed to uphold separation of church and state as laid out by the First Amendment to the Constitution. Davis cites her religious beliefs as the reason she will not issue same-sex marriage licenses. She cannot use this reason because she is a county office paid by the government. While holding a federal office, one must separate their religious beliefs from official duties. In her case, Davis allowed it to keep her and others from carrying out the federal task required of them. 

Some of the couples who got denied marriage licenses stated they voted for her. When she ran for county clerk, she had to know there was a chance of legalized gay marriage. The issue was gaining speed around the time she was elected. It was going to happen soon, and she was going to face it. If she felt uncomfortable then she should have not run. 

Once she was in jail, deputies in Davis’s office, except for her son, resumed issuing all eligible marriage licenses. That was everyone minus her son. They were able to do their duties in a professional manner, putting aside their personal beliefs.  Davis must do the same or leave the office. 

The Kentucky state legislation must step in and impeach Davis if she will not do so. This is the only way for them to set the example that Davis’s behavior was

not acceptable.