Kim Davis’s lawyers just filed an emergency appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, challenging U.S. District Judge David Bunning’s holding Davis in contempt of court, and ordering her taken into immediate federal custody by federal marshals. This is now the fourth day that she is spending behind bars for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, citing her Christian belief that marriage is between a man and woman. As Breitbart News has previously reported, Davis is on solid legal ground in claiming that the First Amendment protects her from having to issue marriage licenses as the elected county clerk, but is on much shakier legal ground by also claiming the governmental power to order her deputy clerks—five of whom do not share her religious-faith objection—from issuing those licenses in her absence. The power to order deputy clerks to do or not do something belongs
Author: Ken Klukowski
Supreme Court Denies Relief to Christian County Clerk—For Now
The Supreme Court is denying a Kentucky county clerk’s application to stay a lower court’s ruling that she must begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. While government officers have religious liberty rights, some question whether the stronger legal argument would be to claim a personal religious liberty right to object to same-sex marriage, but not to claim governmental authority to ban her deputies from issuing those licenses, either.
Appeals Court: Illegal Aliens Have Right to Own Guns
Illegal aliens can now claim Second Amendment rights to own guns in violation of federal law, according to a federal appeals court
Supreme Court Mistake That Opened the Door to Birthright Citizenship
Advocates of birthright citizenship are finally getting their act together, moving away from commentators who are manifestly clueless on the legal arguments for and against the proposition that the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees citizenship to every child born in America, shifting their focus to lawyers and scholars who have seriously studied this issue and can give a serious defense of birthright citizenship—a serious defense that, nonetheless, is wrong.
History and Law Agree: No Birthright Citizenship
Conservative Republicans have been saying for years that the Constitution only guarantees birthright citizenship to some children born in this country, not to all. In an unlikely turn of events, the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause has emerged from the halls of the law-geeks to come front-and-center in the national dialogue.
Media Ignores Constitutional Experts Debunking Birthright Citizenship
Myths about birthright citizenship—promoted by liberals, embraced by establishment Republicans, and repeated by mainstream media pundits without critical examination—have been debunked by experts spanning the political spectrum. But none of those people are being given A-list treatment by major media outlets to respond. Instead, the voices given the biggest public platforms are commentators who lack any professional credentials on the topic, who breezily assure viewers that “of course everyone knows” that the Fourteenth Amendment confers citizenship on everyone born in this country. And when the media occasionally puts on an opposition guest to provide a veneer of balanced reporting, they put on well-meaning individuals who are clearly not well grounded on this issue, who cannot make a compelling case and can’t answer hard questions. But there are a plethora of legal experts who can field those questions. The Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause declares: “All persons born or naturalized in the United
Liberal and Establishment Arguments for Birthright Citizenship Fail
Most arguments for birthright citizenship pushed by the political left and many establishment Republicans are baseless. For those who do try to make a legal argument, the strongest one is based upon two Supreme Court precedents, which were wrongly dec…