Judge rules former clerk who refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses must pay $260,000 legal expenses

A federal judge has ruled that former Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis must pay over $260,000 in attorney fees and expenses following her court case relating to her refusal to issue marriage licenses to a same-sex couple.

Davis was briefly jailed in 2015 for her refusal, and she was subsequently taken to court. Courts have also ruled that she must pay $100,000 in damages to the two men she had refused to work with.

Davis' attorneys are expected to appeal Tuesday's ruling.

Davis spent five days in jail for ignoring court orders to issue licenses to same-sex couples following a 2015 Supreme Court ruling allowing gay marriage. She argued that she was acting "under God's authority," and was freed after a judge ordered her deputies to issue the licenses without her approval.

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Davis had run for re-election to the county clerk office in 2018, but she lost to a Democrat. She had argued that she would be able to certify same-sex marriages due to a change in Kentucky law dropping the requirement for licenses to contain the clerk's signature.

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Davis was defeated in the 2018 election by Democrat Elwood Caudill Jr. 54% to 46%. One of Caudill's challengers in the Democratic primary for the post was David Ermold, to whom Davis refused to issue a license.

After losing, Ermold accused Caudill of being an "anti-gay bigot."

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"I just want him to lose. I would rather Kim Davis win," Ermold said ahead of the election. "At least Kim Davis has the integrity to stand up for what she believes in. Elwood Caudill is a liar."

Fox News' Andrew O'Reilly and The Associated Press contributed to this report.