Citing 'God's authority,' county clerk again refuses to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples despite Supreme Court order

MOREHEAD, Wash. (AP) -- A defiant county clerk in Kentucky has again refused to issues marriage licenses to same-sex couples despite a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court. She said she is doing so "under God's authority."

Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis emerged from her office Tuesday morning after some couples were denied the licenses. She asked David Moore and David Ermold, who've been rejected four times, to leave. They refused, surrounded by reporters and cameras.

Ermold said: "We're not leaving until we have a license."

Davis responded: "Then you're going to have a long day."

Davis' supporters whooped from the back of the room: "Praise the Lord" and "stand your ground."

Others shouted that Davis is a bigot and told her: "Do your job."

As Davis continued to deny licenses to couples despite a Supreme Court ruling against her, U.S. District Judge David Bunning ordered her and her six deputy clerks to appear at a federal court hearing Thursday.

Davis stopped issuing all marriage licenses after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in June. Two gay couples and two straight couples sued her, and U.S. District Judge David Bunning ordered her to issue the licenses.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld that order. But Davis still refused to issue the licenses Tuesday morning.

The couples named in the lawsuit have asked Bunning to hold Davis in contempt of court and fine her for her continued refusal to grant licenses. They specifically asked that he not send her to jail.

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