Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson stated that there should be an accommodation, such as, “get other people involved who can administer the certificates” for Rowan County, KY Clerk Kim Davis (D) and others like her in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper released on Monday.
Carson stated, [relevant exchange begins around 4:30], that the US is “nation of laws” and “they should be followed.” He continued, “However, in a situation like hers, where rules were subsequently brought into place after she was in the job, as a compassionate society, we should make attempts to accommodate her, and provide other mechanisms that do not conflict with her religious beliefs, get other people involved who can administer the certificates.”
Carson was then asked what he would do in other cases, such as, for example, a Muslim not wanting to issue a marriage license to another Muslim marrying a non-Muslim, or someone not wanting to issue a marriage license to someone who had been previously divorced. He said it would “depend when the rules were made,” and that if a rule changed after someone had started a government job, “I would give them an opportunity to try to find a way that accommodation is made.”
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