[LINK] Dale Carpenter on the dishonourable disobedience of Kim Davis

[rfmcdonald]

In his Volokh Conspiracy post "Dishonorable Disobedience", Dale Carpenter criticizes clerk Kim Davis for her interest in cheap glory.

Let’s be clear: Davis was not jailed for being a Christian or for believing that marriage should be restricted to opposite-sex unions. She was jailed for refusing to do her job and for flouting court orders while insisting on keeping that job at public expense and obstructing the path of others to marriage.

If clerks or other government officials are to be excused from their duties based on their individual religious beliefs, that policy should be decided democratically. The costs and benefits should be openly weighed. Any accommodation of individual conscience should at a minimum ensure that members of the public will be served and that their rights will be protected. North Carolina and Utah have approved a marriage-license exemption for clerks. The other 48 states, including Kentucky, have not.

In the meantime, Davis had an honorable path out of her personal moral dilemma. She chose not to take it.