The judge hearing the claims by same-sex duos that they deserved money from former Rowan County, Kentucky, clerk Kim Davis because she initially withheld her signature on marriage certificates when liberals on the Supreme Court fabricated same-sex “marriage” for the country let lawyers sort out jurors and throw out the ones with religious beliefs.
The judge is David Bunning, the son of Jim Bunning, the famed major league pitcher who once threw a perfect game and later served in Congress before his death at the age of 85. Jim Bunning threw no-hitters in both the American and National leagues and the New York Times called him a “fervently conservative and often cantankerous” member of Congress.
The same apparently could not be said for his son, David Bunning, the judge who ordered Davis jailed for withholding her signature from same-sex marriage licenses.
That dispute arose when the Supreme Court newly created same-sex “marriage” in America and state laws still banned it. She opposed the status, and sought a religious exemption so the certificates could be issued without her signature. She eventually received that, but before then a couple of same-sex duos targeted her, bypassing other jurisdictions and demanding she provide them with certificates.
They then sued her personally for damages, and David Bunning agreed she was liable. He only turned over the jury the decision on the amount of damages, and one jury this week returned zero damages, the other $100,000, in a second case.
Liberty Counsel, which has been representing Davis, explained the failures of the judge, who has stepped out on his political agenda previously in the case.
For example, he forced taxpayers to foot the bill from lawyers suing Davis even though ordinarily no fees would have been owed because the case was dismissed when the state law changed.
He also previously ordered Davis to prison.
And early in the case, WND reported, “Bunning was so anxious to rule in favor of the homosexual duos that he didn’t wait until he had jurisdiction in the case before holding a hearing.”
Then, “he overturned the recommendation of a magistrate who ruled the homosexual duos were not the prevailing party in the case.”
Now, Liberty Counsel has confirmed that the damage award will be appealed.
Further, it offered information about Bunning’s ideology and how it impacted the case.
“Judge Bunning also improperly allowed questions concerning whether any potential juror had religious or moral objections to ‘same-sex marriage.’ The judge overruled Liberty Counsel’s objection and that permitted the plaintiffs to exclude all jurors that have religious beliefs and those who had objections to ‘same-sex marriage.’ That question essentially excluded jurors based on religion, which is unlawful under Batson v. Kentucky, J.E.B. v. Alabama, and a federal statute, 28 U.S.C. 1862.”
Liberty Counsel continued, “In addition, under Rule 50 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a district court judge is prohibited from giving a case to the jury when the evidence presented during the trial is clearly insufficient to warrant any damages. Both David Ermold and David Moore testified under oath that ‘I do not know how to calculate the damages that Kim Davis caused us’ and stated under oath that ‘maybe the violation has no value.’ Plaintiffs are required to provide evidence of damages and it cannot be based on speculation or guesswork. Because the plaintiffs provided the jury with no evidence whatsoever to give the jury any basis upon which to enter a damages verdict, the judge should never have given the case to the jury. He should have entered a directed verdict stating that the plaintiffs failed to provide sufficient evidence from which the jury could award damages.
“Binding Sixth Circuit law states that the mere testimony of a plaintiff that he was embarrassed, humiliated, etc., without any other evidence of damages, cannot suffice to merit a damages award. The judge denied Liberty Counsel’s motion and ignored the relevant law on the issue. Giving the case to the jury was impermissible, and that makes the verdict for damages reversible error.”
Liberty Counsel said it would file a judgment notwithstanding the verdict as well as an appeal.
The legal team explained, “This Ermold jury verdict is unsound and easily sets this case up for an eventual route to the U.S. Supreme Court where religious freedom will be central to the argument along with the issue that the 2015 case of Obergefell v. Hodges was wrongly decided and should be overturned.”
The $100,000 in damages is unsupported, Liberty Counsel said, because, “The evidence presented at trial simply does not support that verdict. The plaintiffs asked for $50,000 each in damages, alleging that David Ermold was terminated from the University of Pikeville because of the Kim Davis case. During the trial, the human resource director testified that was not true and that Ermold’s position was downsized along with other positions. Losing their basis to allege damages, the Ermold plaintiffs then changed gears during the trial to allege they should receive damages for hurt feelings.”
Liberty Counsel said Davis is not liable for any damages because she was entitled to a religious accommodation from issuing marriage licenses under her name and authority that conflicted with her religious beliefs.
Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver said, “We look forward to appealing this decision for Kim Davis. We will argue religious accommodation under the First Amendment, and other state and federal laws. We will also argue that Obergefell v. Hodges was wrongly decided and should be overturned. Yesterday’s jury verdict has paved the way for this case to go the U.S. Supreme Court.”
IMPORTANT NOTE TO WND READERS: Today’s ruling elites champion policies every previous generation of Americans would have regarded as outright evil. At the top of that list would be the supremely radioactive issue – illuminated by the hit summer film “Sound of Freedom” – of the widespread trafficking and sexual slavery of children, as well as the shocking prevalence of pedophiles in the United States of America. Indeed, the U.S. is the largest market for child sexual abuse in the world.
According to Tim Ballard, who has led many missions rescuing sex-trafficked children around the world, the Biden administration actually ENABLES AND PROMOTES the trafficking and sexual slavery of children with its horrendous border policies, its push for early sexualization of children, championing children’s “right to consent” on everything including mutilating transgender surgeries, and so on.
“Pedophiles are sitting back right now,” says Ballard, “and going, ‘We’ve been pushing this agenda for decades, and now we don’t have to push any more, because the left is taking care of it for us’ – IN AMERICA!”
Ballard’s concerns are confirmed by Tara Lee Rodas, a Health and Human Services whistleblower who recently testified before Congress that under Joe Biden, “THE U.S. GOVERNMENT HAS BECOME THE MIDDLEMAN IN A LARGE-SCALE, MULTI-BILLION-DOLLAR CHILD TRAFFICKING OPERATION.”
But that’s just the beginning. The whole, secret criminal mega-enterprise of child sex trafficking and the global elites’ affinity for pedophilia is exposed as never before in the August issue of WND’s critically acclaimed monthly Whistleblower magazine, in a groundbreaking issue titled “THE NEW AMERICAN SLAVE TRADE: How the Biden regime enables and promotes child sex trafficking in the U.S.A.” WHISTLEBLOWER is available in both the popular print edition and a state-of-the-art digital version, either single issues or discounted annual subscriptions.
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