So the Pope Met Kim Davis // Rick Garnett // Mirror of Justice

 The Pope Met Kim Davis // Mirror of Justice

by Rick Garnett // Notre Dame Law School

***Like Rob Vischer (read his piece here), I think the Kim Davis case presents some tricky questions.  It is not as clear to me as it is to some that she can, in this moment, expect to be exempted from performing duties that attach to her elected, official position.  (This is not to say that it does not make sense to find ways -- as Robin Fretwell Wilson and others have described -- to accommodate, if possible, public employees' religious objections to participating in the legal recognition of same-sex marriages, if it can be done in a way that does not deny anyone legal rights.)  At the same time, I think Matt Bowman is clearly right to warn that those who control the power to define what "doing your job" means (or to control access to various positions and professions through licensing, accreditation, etc.) will be trying to use that power in the coming years against, say, pro-life doctors and nurses, or judges who belong to "discriminatory" organizations, or student groups and religious colleges with "discriminatory" views, practices,  or mission statements, etc.  Stay tuned.