Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says he can see both sides in the case of Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who has been ordered to jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but that “the Supreme Court has ruled” on the issue and “it is the law of the land.”
“Well look — the decision came down from the Supreme Court … so I’m a believer in both sides of the picture,” Mr. Trump said Friday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “I would say the simple answer is let her clerks do it. Now, from what I understand, she’s not letting her clerks do it, either.”
Five of the six deputies in Ms. Davis’ office said they will start processing the paperwork Friday, though Ms. Davis indicated she will not authorize any of her employees to issue licenses in her absence, The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal reported.
“The other simple answer is rather than going through this, [because] it’s really a very, very sticky situation, a terrible situation — 30 miles away they have other places, they have many other places where you get licensed, and you have them actually quite nearby,” Mr. Trump said. “That’s another alternative. I hate to see her being put in jail. I understand what they’re doing. It would be certainly nice if she didn’t do it, but other people in her office do it but from what I understand she won’t allow other people in her office to do it.”
Bottom line, host Joe Scarborough said, is that if Supreme Court makes a decision, that’s the law of land, right?
“You have to go with it,” Mr. Trump said. “The decision’s been made, and that is the law of the land.”
SEE ALSO: With clerk Kim Davis jailed, gay Kentucky couple gets marriage license
“She can take a pass and let somebody else in the office do it in terms of religious, so you know, it’s a very … tough situation, but we are a nation, as I said yesterday, we’re a nation of laws,” he said. “And I was talking about borders and I was talking about other things, but you know, it applies to this, also, and the Supreme Court has ruled. It would be nice to have other people in her office do what they have to do.”
Several of Mr. Trump’s 2016 GOP rivals, such as Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, have panned the decision to jail Ms. Davis.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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