Justice Kennedy Advises Law Clerks To Enforce The Law

“As a public official, in performing your legal duties you are bound to enforce the law,” said Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was speaking at Harvard Law School. His remarks were directed at law clerks like Kentucky’s Kim Davis and others who, following the June ruling legalizing same-sex marriage, stopped issuing marriage licenses. Davis said sanctioning gay marriage would violate her religious beliefs. She was held in contempt of court by a federal judge and jailed for five days. Davis is now appealing the judge’s order that she issue the licenses. Kennedy said he empathizes with clerks facing “difficult moral questions” in their jobs, “But certainly … it would be difficult for me to say that people are free to ignore a decision by the Supreme Court.”