Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Jailed County Clerk Claims Conscience

Originally published by Thomas J. Crane.

County Clerk Kim Davis has gone to jail rather than enforce the Supreme Court’s ruling that gay persons can marry. See CBS news report. She claims she is acting on her conscience. But, in my opinion, if she was following the dictates of her conscience, she would simply resign. Law enforcement officials face these sorts of quandaries all the time, should they enforce laws with which they disagree? Back in the 1980’s, I clerked for a state district judge in rural Louisiana. Judge Robert Jackson had been a judge for some 20 years and a prosecutor some ten years before that. I remember when the seat belt laws first went into effect in Louisiana. Many of us considered strapping on a seat belt an aggravation, especially for short in-town trips. But, Judge Jackson always put his belt on. He complained. He grumbled. But, he always put on his seat belt. He knew he was a judge and would have to enforce this law if that sort of issue came into court.

I think its more than her conscience. If it was just her conscience, she could just resign.

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