Kentucky Republican Matt Bevin linked the federal judge who ruled the state has to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
Bevin is running in the GOP primary against McConnell. His statement came a few hours after U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II ruled that Kentucky must recognize same sex marriages performed in other states. Bevin said:
I’m deeply disappointed in Judge Heyburn’s decision to overturn Kentucky’s right to determine the definition of marriage within its own borders. This type of judicial activism hurts America’s democratic process.
It is no surprise that Judge Heyburn was Mitch McConnell’s general counsel and McConnell recommended him for the federal bench. Kentucky deserves better.
In 1992, upon McConnell’s recommendation, Heyburn was appointed to the federal bench by President George H.W. Bush, according to The Washington Post. According to author and journalist Sarah Garland in her book Divided We Fail: The Story of an African American Community That Ended the Era of School Desegregation, Heyburn started his career working for McConnell when the top Senate Republican ran for a lower elected office.
