Story highlights
NEW: Kim Davis will return to work on Monday, legal team says
Judge says Davis can't interfere with issuing marriage licenses to legally eligible couples
Deputy clerks began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples after Davis was jailed
Kim Davis is a free woman now, but what will she do when she returns to work?
Could she end up behind bars again?
The Rowan County, Kentucky, clerk, who was held in contempt for defying a court order and refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses, was released with a caveat she may not be willing to accept.
U.S. District Judge David Bunning released Davis from jail Tuesday – five days after he sent her there – saying he was satisfied that her deputies had fulfilled their obligations in her absence.
But Bunning’s new order says Davis cannot interfere with her deputies issuing marriage licenses to all legally eligible couples.
Davis could find herself behind bars again if she does anything to prevent the marriages from taking place, said Jeffrey Toobin, CNN senior legal analyst.
“If Ms. Davis stops them from issuing licenses, then we are right back where we started,” Toobin said. “And Judge Bunning has made it quite clear, he will lock her back up.”
Davis, who said issuing the licenses would violate her conscience and go against her religion, won’t resign from her post, attorney Mat Staver said. She will return to work on Monday, the law firm representing her said.
Asked Tuesday by a reporter whether her stay in jail was worth it, Davis smiled and nodded.
But she didn’t speak directly about the case, and the key question remains unanswered: When she goes back to work, what will she do when she gets there?
Opinion: Was it right to jail her?
‘Just keep on pressing’
At her home in Kentucky on Wednesday, Davis said she spent the day with her husband, family and three dogs – and opening boxes of letters of support sent to her while she was in jail.
“I am deeply moved by all those who prayed for me,” she said in a statement released by her attorneys. “All I can say is that I am amazed and very grateful.”
Emotions flowed as Davis stepped out of jail Tuesday. First she cried, then beamed as she stood before a cheering crowd outside the Carter County Detention Center, urging supporters not to give in.
“Just keep on pressing,” she said. “Don’t let down, because (God) is here.”
Republican presidential hopeful takes center stage
The case has become a political lightning rod, drawing attention from Republican presidential hopefuls, even though Davis is a Democrat.
At the rally for Davis Tuesday, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said he had a message for the judge who sent Davis to jail.
“If you have to put someone in jail, I volunteer to go,” Huckabee said. “Let me go. Lock me up if you think that’s how freedom is best served.”
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas also traveled to meet with Davis, but he was not part of the pro-Davis rally that appeared on live TV.
Ted Cruz: ‘Praise God that Kim Davis is being released’
‘She’s not going to violate her conscience’
Davis previously said she will not authorize her office to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples unless the state removes the authority of her office from the forms.
Her attorneys say, for example, that the governor or Legislature could make clear that the licenses are issued under the authority of the state, rather than her office.
Bunning’s order from Tuesday makes no mention of revising the licenses.
One of Davis’ attorneys said the judge hasn’t resolved anything.
“We’ve asked for a simple solution – get her name and authority off the certificate. The judge could order that,” Staver said.
Staver didn’t directly answer questions about whether Davis would stop same-sex couples in her county from getting marriage licenses when she returns to work.
“She loves God, she loves people, she loves her work and she will not betray any of those three,” Staver said. “She’ll do her job good. She’ll serve the people … and she’ll also be loyal to God, and she’s not going to violate her conscience.”
The clerk’s office on Wednesday morning said it had issued seven marriage licenses to same-sex couples since Friday, the day after Davis was jailed.
About 20 opponents of same-sex marriage protested Wednesday morning outside the Rowan County Courthouse, holding signs with messages such as “stop sodomite perverts” and “no to sodomite perversion.”
Attorneys: State religious freedom law supports Davis
Davis’ legal team has filed appeals to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
“If (Davis’ deputies) can issue licenses under someone else’s authority … Kim Davis would not stand in the way of that,” another attorney, Roger Gannam, told CNN’s “New Day” on Tuesday.
Davis’ legal team on Monday asked the appeals court for an injunction that would prompt Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear to remove her office’s authority from the licenses, something her attorneys say Beshear can do through an executive order.
Some of Davis’ opponents say she could resign if she feels she can’t issue licenses to same-sex couples.
But Davis should not have to resign or be jailed, Gannam said, because “accommodation of religious conscience is the law in Kentucky, including for elected officials.”
Gannam cited Kentucky’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The 2013 law prohibits the state government from substantially burdening a person’s freedom of religion unless the government both proves it has a compelling interest in doing so and has used the least restrictive means to do it.
“It’s the duty of the Kentucky government to accommodate that, and they very easily could do so,” Gannam said. “Gov. Beshear is the one who should do his job or resign.”
Chris Christie: Kentucky clerk Kim Davis should have been placed in other job
Governor: No special session
Beshear’s office said Monday he wouldn’t respond to news of the appeals, saying the case was a “matter between her and the courts.”
The state Legislature also could pass a law removing clerks’ names from the licenses, but it won’t be in session until January.
Beshear said the Legislature can do as it wishes, but he won’t call lawmakers for a special session, adding that doing so would cost “hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayers’ money.”
Kim Davis has been divorced three times
CNN’s Jason Hanna, Catherine E. Shoichet, Kevin Conlon, Martin Savidge, Alexandra Field, Kristina Sgueglia, Steve Almasy, Tony Marco, Jennifer Duck, Tom LoBianco, Tal Kopan and Theodore Schleifer contributed to this report.