Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis was released from jail Tuesday after being held in contempt of court for defying a judge’s order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
The Associated Press reports that Davis will take a few days off and return to work either Friday or Monday, but questions remain about whether she will issue licenses upon her return.
Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, a religious liberty firm representing Davis, told CNN that his client would not quit her job or go against her faith.
U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning’s order requires that Davis does not interfere with her deputies’ ability to issue licenses to same-sex couples, or “appropriate sanctions will be considered.”
According to CNN, following her release, Davis did not tell reporters what she will do upon her return to work, and only “smiled and nodded” when asked if her time in prison was “worth it.”
“I just want to give God the glory. His people have rallied, and you are a strong people,” Davis told a crowd who had gathered to support her, according to the AP.
Davis has testified that she believes in the biblical definition of marriage between one man and one woman, and issuing licenses with her name on them to same-sex couples would violate her conscience.
Five of the six deputy clerks in the office have told the court they will issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
The Daily Signal previously reported that Davis became the focus of a national controversy after she refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses after the Supreme Court’s ruling on Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
Davis was sent to jail on Thursday, when Bunning held her in contempt of court for defying his order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
