A judge has ordered Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who was jailed last week for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, be released.
U.S. District Judge David Bunning wrote in a two-page order on Tuesday that five of Davis’s six deputy clerks in Rowan County have agreed to grant licenses to both gay and straight couples. Their office had not granted licenses since June 29—just days after a Supreme Court ruling made same-sex marriage the law of the land. Since the county is “fulfilling its obligation,” the order said, Davis could go free. Davis has said her beliefs as an Apostolic Christian prevented her from recognizing same-sex marriage.
Davis was released from the Carter County Detention Center just after 3 p.m. She will return to her job later this week, CNN reports. But Bunning made clear that she can’t get in the way of marriage licenses being issued to all couples.
“Davis shall not interfere in any way, directly or indirectly, with the efforts of her deputy clerks to issue marriage licenses to all legally eligible couples,” the order states. “If Defendant Davis should interfere in any way with their issuance, that will be considered a violation of this Order and appropriate sanctions will be considered.”