Huckabee: Kentucky Clerk Following Laws of Her Own State

Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis is "standing tall for what she believes and what the law is in her state," by refusing to issue marriage licenses for same-sex couples, GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said Thursday, and he salutes her for standing up for her principles.

"The only law she is following is the Kentucky law, which by Constitutional amendment defines marriage [between] a man and a woman," Huckabee argued on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program, denying that the Supreme Court's ruling against such laws should apply.

"The specific form that she is required to fill out for a marriage license specifically requires male and female," Huckabee said. "If the Kentucky legislature decides they agree with the Supreme Court and they change the laws of Kentucky, that's a whole different thing."

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Huckabee maintained that late President Thomas Jefferson warned against judicial tyranny, which would happen "if we ended up allowing a court ruling to become law without the other two branches coming in to agree ... I think we're getting close to what Jefferson said when he said that if we allow the judicial branch just to make up law without the people's elected representatives, you turn the Constitution into a thing of wax."

And, he argued, the Supreme Court is "certainly not the supreme being" and it "cannot overrule the laws of nature."

The Supreme Court's ruling, said Huckabee, is "the interpretation of five elected lawyers on the court" and dared show host Joe Scarborough, who argued that presidential candidates should encourage public officials to follow the "law of the land," to tell him the statute that allows gay marriage in Kentucky.

"You have to have enabling legislation," Huckabee said. "If what you said is correct, then Abraham Lincoln should be vilified as a lawless president" for opposing slavery.

"I just think it's time for us to have a serious reminder of the structure of our government, three equal branches and the court," said Huckabee. "If it is allowed to make a ruling and we throw up our hands and say it's the law of the land, there is nothing we can do or say, we have to fall in line."

Related Stories:

• Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis Holds Firm: No to Same-Sex Marriages
• Huckabee to Newsmax: Religious Liberty Battle Not Lost Cause