(CNN) — Carmen and Shannon Wampler-Collins walked out of the Rowan County, Kentucky, clerk’s office with a marriage license Monday morning. They were the first same-sex couple to apply for a marriage license since clerk Kim Davis returned to her job.
Davis vowed not to issue licenses to gay couples, but said she wouldn’t stop her deputies from doing so.
Davis said she would not issue any marriage licenses that go against her religious beliefs — but she left the door open for her deputies to continue to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, as long as those documents do not have Davis’ name or title on them.
Davis acknowledged that she is not sure on the legality of licenses altered in such a way.
Davis spent five days behind bars this month for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses — something she is legally obligated to do under state and federal law.
On her first day back at work, she read a statement calling for state authorities to find a solution to accommodate her religious beliefs.
“Effective immediately, and until an accommodation is provided by those with the authority to provide it, any marriage license issued by my office will not be issued or authorized by me,” Davis said.
In the meantime, she offered an interim resolution, but it is unclear if it passes legal muster:
If her deputies — who had been issuing marriage certificates to same-sex couples in her absence — continue to do so, Davis said she will not stop them, but that those certificates must not have her name or title, and must instead state that they are issued pursuant to a federal court order.
U.S. District Judge David Bunning “indicated last week that he was willing to accept altered marriage license even though he was not certain of their validity,” Davis said. “I, too, have great doubts whether the license issued under these conditions are even valid.”
It’s not clear how Bunning will respond to Davis’ proposal.
“If Ms. Davis stops them from issuing licenses, then we are right back where we started,” said CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, before Davis made her statement. “And Judge Bunning has made it quite clear, he will lock her back up.”
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