Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis declined an offer from the Oath Keepers, an anti-government group comprised of former law enforcement officials and military members, to protect her from arrest by federal authorities, the group announced on Friday.
“Upon request by Kim Davis’ legal team, Oath Keepers is canceling the planned security detail for Mrs. Davis in Morehead, Kentucky,” the group’s founder, Stewart Rhodes, said in a statement. “We will, of course, respect her wishes, and are hereby issuing a stand-down for our security volunteers who were planning on deploying to Morehead, Kentucky on Monday.”
The Oath Keepers offered last week to “protect” Davis from any U.S. Marshals that attempt to arrest her. The group said that the judge who sent Davis to jail “grossly overstepped his bounds and violated Mrs Davis’ due process rights, and in particular her right to a jury trial.”
Rhodes told his members on Friday that they were still permitted to rally in support of Davis and her efforts in Kentucky.
“This is a free country, and of course you are free to still go there on Monday and peaceably assemble to express your support for her due process rights and your opposition to arbitrary arrest if you want to, but Oath Keepers will not be conducting a security detail, and she apparently does not want anyone else to do so,” he said.
