Lawbreaker Kim Davis and the lawless
Ted Cruz
By Dana Milbank Opinion writer September 4 Washington POST
What Kim Davis did was troubling.
What Ted Cruz did was downright alarming.
Davis, a county clerk in Kentucky,
refused to issue marriage certificates to gay couples. She said she was
operating “under God’s authority,” but she now sits in jail for ignoring
federal authority.
Dana Milbank writes about political theater in the nation’s
capital. He joined the Post as a political reporter in 2000.
Davis, at least, is facing the
consequences of her actions. Not so Cruz, senator from Texas and Republican
presidential candidate.
“Today, judicial lawlessness crossed
into judicial tyranny,” he said. “Today, for
the first time ever, the government arrested a Christian woman for living
according to her faith. . . . I stand with Kim Davis. Unequivocally.”
Tyranny? Our system of government
gives the Supreme Court final say over constitutional matters, and, though Cruz
doesn’t like it, the court ordered states to recognize same-sex marriages. In
fact, the high court specifically declined to give relief to Davis, and the
federal judge who ordered her jailed for contempt of court is a George W. Bush
appointee and son of a former Republican senator.
Now Cruz, who took an oath of office
to “support and defend the Constitution,” wants people to defy the Supreme
Court’s authority? Who is the lawless one?
Cruz isn’t the only Republican
candidate seeking the nation’s highest office while encouraging people to
ignore its laws. Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, declared: “I thank God
for Kim Davis, and I hope more Americans will stand with her.”
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, too,
supported Davis, and Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) called her jailing “absurd” and said
stands such as Davis’s are “an
important part of the American way.” Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said that “you have the
freedom to practice religious beliefs out there. It’s a fundamental right.”
True. And there’s a proud American
tradition of defying unjust laws with civil disobedience. But nobody is denying
Davis freedom to believe what she wishes; she’s merely being ordered to do what
she swore to do: “faithfully execute the duties of my office without favor.”
Refusing to do so doesn’t make her Martin Luther King Jr. It makes her George
Wallace.
“When they put their personal
beliefs above their responsibilities as public servants, that’s not civil
disobedience, it’s abuse of power,” says Michael Keegan of the liberal group
People for the American Way, which tracks such actions by public officials.
“Elected officials who feel like they can’t in good conscience fulfill their
duties have an honorable way to proceed: They can find another line of work.”
Defenders of Davis, a Democrat,
cite President Obama’s “lawlessness” — but even his expansive view of
presidential power doesn’t include ignoring court orders. They cite San Francisco’s
“lawless” sanctuary-city statute — but the ordinance has survived 26 years
without being invalidated.
Jeb Bush, to his credit, said Davis
“is sworn to uphold the law.” But a large number of Republican officeholders
are encouraging people to ignore a variety of laws.
When Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy
last year undertook an armed standoff against the federal government, Paul, Ben
Carson (also now a GOP presidential candidate), Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.)
and others took Bundy’s side.
Huckabee and Rick Santorum, another
GOP presidential candidate, signed a pledge
not to “respect an unjust law that directly conflicts with higher law.”
Huckabee is on record saying that
“the Supreme Court is not the Supreme Being, and they cannot overturn the laws
of nature or of nature’s God.” Huckabee floated the notion of using federal
troops to block people from getting abortions. He also said: “I will not
acquiesce to an imperial court any more than our Founders acquiesced to an
imperial British monarch.”
Paul recently sounded a call to arms
against the city of Houston over a rescinded attempt to subpoena local pastors.
“That’s at the point at which civil resistance is in order,” he said. Former
Texas governor Rick Perry, for his part, said last year that his state wouldn’t
comply with a federal prison-rape law.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell (R-Ky.), meanwhile, encouraged states not to comply with a proposed
Environmental Protection Agency rule. Various judges and clerks across the
country have taken stands like Davis’s.
Davis got support for her
law-breaking from Matt Bevin, the Republican candidate for governor of
Kentucky, and from her husband, Joe, one of three men to whom she has been
married. Ominously, he said he’s not afraid of harassment by gay-marriage
supporters, and he invoked his gun-toting rights under the Second Amendment.
“I’m an old redneck hillbilly, that’s all I’ve got to say,” he said. “Don’t
come knocking on my door.”
It’s fitting that, as Kim Davis
undermines the rule of law, Joe Davis threatens violence. When you lose the former,
all you are left with is the latter.
Twitter: @Milbank
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