Clerk Defies Supreme Court, Refuses Gay Marriage Licenses

[Mister Agenda]

Because of RFRA laws, employers are expected to make modest accommodations for the religious beliefs of their employees. They don't have to exempt employees from essential duties (like exempting a Muslim bartender from serving alcohol), but the courts are likely to rule that a request that can be accommodated by limited exchanges of work duties (Muslim flight attendant takes on other duties more in exchange for not having to serve alcohol, for instance) should be so accommodated.

Kim Davis actually has a case, in that her request is for her name and title to not appear on Marriage Certificates now that gays can marry. Given that she is popular in her county and holds an elective office, altering the Marriage Certificates so that her deputy clerks can provide them without her 'seal of approval' is an accommodation that I think there is at lease a 50/50 chance the Court willl wind up accepting.

Of course, all this RFRA stuff working depends on the demands of employees for religious accommodation to remain within some bounds. If you have too many Muslim flight attendants refusing to serve alcohol, modest (low-cost) accommodations for their religious requirements can become so burdensome to meet that the provisions of RFRA no longer provide protection. At this point a business (say, an airline) could probably safely make an ultimatum that all attendants not willing to serve alcohol must seek employment elsewhere, and the Court would likely back them up.

IANAL