Judge Orders Kentucky Clerk to be released from jail
(CNN) Judge orders Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis to be released from jail.
Republican presidential hopefuls Mike Huckabee and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz are both set to meet Tuesday with Kentucky clerk Kim Davis in the jail where she's been kept over her refusal to issue same-sex marriage licenses.
Cruz will meet with Davis first, and Huckabee will follow up his visit with a rally protesting her confinement.
Their visit has drawn criticism from some of their rivals for the Republican presidential nomination.
\"Frankly, I don't think you should grandstand on this stuff,\" New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said on \"Fox and Friends\" Tuesday morning, referring to 2016 candidates planning to visit Davis.
\"Look, everybody is entitled to their opinions, and I love Mike Huckabee and what he stands for. But I just think there's bigger fish to fry here in terms of people understanding what faith in God really means,\" Ohio Gov. John Kasich told reporters in Maine on Tuesday. \"I don't agree with Court's decision but I had said I was going to accept the court's decision.\"
Davis, who's been behind bars since last Thursday, has asked Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, a fellow Democrat, to release her from jail. Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear's office said on Monday that he won't respond, adding the conflict was a \"matter between her and the courts.\"
Also on Tuesday, her lawyers filed a motion with the circuit court asking them to set aside the contempt order temporarily as her appeal works its way through the system.
One of her lawyers told CNN that, while her imprisonment was appealed, she was reading the Bible in jail and \"exudes gentleness and peace.\"
READ: Kim Davis asks Kentucky governor to free her in same-sex marriage case
Christie on Tuesday offered an alternative to jailing Kentucky clerk Kim Davis for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples: Move her to another job.
\"What I would do with this woman is to move her to another job where this is not an objection for her, because you have to follow the law, and the law is these licenses have to be issued,\" Christie said on \"Fox and Friends.\" \"If she has a religious objection we should move her to another job inside the government.\"
And if she refused to switch positions?
\"Then there's going to be an issue, but I think we should give her an option to do another job where her religious concerns are not going to be put into the crosshairs on this. So we have to have respect for people, but the government also has to function,\" he said.
Albeit a hypothetical situation, Christie would have trouble with his alternative proposal because clerks are elected in Kentucky.