District Judge David Bunning on Friday ordered the state of Kentucky, which means its' taxpayers, to pay $222,695 in fees to the attorneys of two same-sex couples and others who sued Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis for denying their rights. He also awarded $2,008.08 in other costs. For background, the media has presented Kim Davis as a Christian with a tawdry background who hypocritically would not obey the Kentucky gay marriage law. Journalists, Television news people and commentators stated Davis had refused to issue gay marriage licenses, thereby denying gay couples their legal right to be married. She was then jailed for good cause-not obeying the law she swore to uphold. That's a false narrative designed to quell Christian sympathy for Kim Davis. Kim Davis was elected as County Clerk in December 2014. All marriage licenses issued from her office would bear her name, whether she personally issued them or not. Kim Davis simply requested that county licenses issued to same-sex couples did not bear her name. Davis never refused to issue a marriage license to a gay couple, nor did she declare as County Clerk that her county officially rejected gay marriage.
As a Christian, she just didn’t want her name appearing embossed on a gay marriage license. North Carolina had passed a law to allow magistrates to opt out from processing gay marriage licenses for religious reasons, and 30 magistrates did just that. Kentucky had a similar law, HB 279, which put the burden on the state to show a compelling state interest to deny a religious opt-out. Judge Bunning's previous rulings included siding with the ACLU, by forcing students to watch gay advocacy videos, including Christian students who wanted to opt out for religious reasons. Bunning was eventually overturned on that case. Judge Bunning naturally sided with the ACLU in the Davis case, and held Davis in contempt of court for failing to issue licenses, sentencing her to jail indefinitely without bail. Kim Davis suffered a bloodless white martyrdom, while most of America was misled on what exactly took place. That's the true story in a nutshell. Back to Judge Bunning's award of attorney's fees-William Sharp, legal director for the ACLU of Kentucky, said he hopes the ruling reminds Kentucky officials that "willful violations of individuals' civil liberties ... will not only be challenged but will also prove costly." "It is unfortunate that Kentucky taxpayers will likely bear the financial burden of the unlawful actions and litigation strategies of an elected official, but those same voters are free to take that information into account at the ballot box," Sharp said. The ACLU's official statement is evidence of the coercive power of the attorney's fee provision. This provision was codified in the 1976 Civil Rights Attorney Fee Act (42 USC, Section 1988). For some background, American judges rarely award granting attorney’s fees to the prevailing party in a lawsuit. One of the rare exceptions came about from a provision in the Civil Rights Act. This granted attorney's fees to help poor people of color get access to legal help in race discrimination cases. The attorney’s fees are awarded to the prevailing party in a civil rights action. The prevailing party means the party who succeeded in their case. So, if someone sued for violation of their civil rights, their attorneys could be awarded fees, paid by the other side-even if they only succeeded in winning as little as $1 in a judgment, or getting an injunction. This provision has been expanded in other legislation, giving groups like the ACLU the opportunity to exploit the provision in Establishment Clause cases about religion — to reap huge profits and to serve as a financial weapon against those groups targeted by the ACLU. The award against the Kentucky taxpayers is not unusual-attorney’s fees can be as high as one million dollars or more, depending on the time the attorneys put into the case. Former Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) sponsored a bill to end this practice. He stated in US Senate hearings on his bill: "Congress' intent in passing (attorney’s fees award legislation) in 1976 was to prevent racial injustice and discrimination…thirty years later these laws are being used simply to purge religious faith — and symbols of any faith — from our society at taxpayer expense." The ACLU and similar groups are getting paid by Christian taxpayers to pervert the US Constitution, actively removing Christianity from the public square, and criminalizing religious faith and expression. America is now under siege, in the later stages of the 5 stages of religious persecution, as outlined by Father John Espy. Please click on the button below to sign our petition: help us push Congress to change this system by enacting a law to eliminate these coercive and unnecessary attorney’s fees provisions in religious cases.
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