## Facts

- After the Supreme Court held that states must license same-sex marriages, Kentucky officials instructed county clerks to issue marriage licenses to qualified applicants.
- Kim Davis, the elected Rowan County Clerk, opposed same-sex marriage on religious grounds and declined to issue marriage licenses.
- Rather than issuing licenses to same-sex couples, Davis adopted a blanket policy under which her office issued no marriage licenses to any applicants.
- Several same-sex and opposite-sex couples who were qualified to marry under Kentucky law were denied licenses in Rowan County and were told they could seek licenses in other counties.
- Plaintiffs sued Davis in her official capacity under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, including a preliminary injunction requiring issuance of licenses.

## Issues

1. Whether plaintiffs showed a likelihood of success on the merits that the clerk’s refusal to issue marriage licenses violated the Fourteenth Amendment rights recognized in Obergefell.
2. Whether the clerk’s Free Exercise and state religious-freedom defenses justified refusal to perform statutory licensing duties.
3. Whether irreparable harm, balance of equities, and the public interest favored preliminary injunctive relief.

## Decision

- The court granted plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction.
- The court ordered Davis, in her official capacity, to issue marriage licenses to otherwise qualified applicants and to cease enforcing the no-licenses policy.
- The court found plaintiffs likely to succeed because denial of licenses burdened the fundamental right to marry and lacked a legitimate governmental justification.
- The court held Davis’s religious objections did not excuse nonperformance of a neutral, generally applicable legal duty; issuing marriage licenses was a ministerial function of her office.
- The court found irreparable harm from the deprivation of constitutional rights, that equities favored plaintiffs, and that the public interest supported enforcement of constitutional rights and compliance with Supreme Court precedent.

## Legal Principles

- A state actor may not deny access to civil marriage to qualified applicants in a manner that burdens the fundamental right to marry recognized under the Fourteenth Amendment.
- Government officials performing statutory duties are generally bound by neutral, generally applicable laws; the Free Exercise Clause does not provide a license to refuse ministerial obligations of public office.
- Issuance of a marriage license by a county clerk is a ministerial act, not a discretionary judgment about the merits of a marriage.
- In constitutional-rights cases, ongoing deprivation of rights constitutes irreparable injury for preliminary-injunction purposes.
- The public interest is served by preventing unlawful state action and enforcing constitutional rights.

## Conclusion

The court preliminarily enjoined the Rowan County Clerk from refusing to issue marriage licenses, holding that personal religious objections did not justify withholding a ministerial public service and that the equities and public interest favored immediate protection of applicants’ constitutional right to marry.


Miller v. Davis, 123 F. Supp. 3d 924 (E.D. Ky. 2015)