ASHLAND, KY – Liberty Counsel filed its Opening Brief of an appeal to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Ermold v. Davis requesting to overturn the jury verdict on behalf of former Rowan County Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis. In the case, Liberty Counsel argues for religious freedom with the goal to overturn the 2015 marriage case known as Obergefell v. Hodges.

The Opening Brief argues that (1) there is no evidence to support the jury verdict, (2) Kim Davis was entitled to an accommodation of her sincerely held religious beliefs, and (3) that the 2015 case of Obergefell. v. Hodges should be overruled. 

In 2015, two same-sex couples who sought marriage licenses from Davis sued because she declined to issue the licenses due to her religious beliefs even though she referred the couples to other clerks who would. Despite Davis receiving an eventual religious accommodation from the state to abstain from granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples, the litigation against Davis continued. In Ermold v. Davis case, along with a second case in Yates v. Davis, two juries heard the same evidence and the same arguments in both cases. The jury in the Yates case awarded zero damages because the evidence did not support the awarding of any damages. The plaintiffs in that case originally asked for $300,000 in damages.

The Ermold jury reached a verdict of $50,000 for each plaintiff and the judge also awarded the plaintiffs an additional $246,000 in attorney’s fees and $14,000 in expenses despite lacking evidence to support the awarding of emotional damages. 

Liberty Counsel presents the case that Davis is protected under the First Amendment Free Exercise of Religion, was entitled to religious accommodation, that the Supreme Court’s 2015 opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges should be overturned, and that she is not liable for damages.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “Kim Davis deserves justice in this case since she was entitled to a religious accommodation from issuing marriage licenses under her name and authority. This case has the potential to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges and extend the same religious freedom protections beyond Kentucky to the entire nation.” 

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