FRANKFORT – The state of Kentucky is on the hook for nearly $225,000 in legal fees incurred by same-sex couples who challenged a Rowan County Clerk’s refusal to issue them marriage licenses following the landmark Supreme Court ruling allowing same-sex marriages.

U.S. District Judge David Bunning ordered the state to pay $224,695 in legal fees and costs to plaintiffs, finding that the state rather than Rowan County or Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis are responsible for the costs.

William Sharp, legal director for ACLU of Kentucky and the attorney for the plaintiffs, praised the decision.

“We are pleased with today’s ruling, and we hope this serves as a reminder to Kentucky officials that willful violations of individuals’ civil liberties, such as what occurred here, will not only be challenged but will also prove costly,” Sharp said. “It is unfortunate that Kentucky taxpayers will likely bear the financial burden of the unlawful actions and litigation strategies of an elected official, but those same voters are free to take that information into account at the ballot box.”

Davis, like other county clerks, holds a constitutional office and is elected by county voters. But it is the state, not county government, which controls and regulates marriage, Bunning said in his ruling.

“Thus, county clerks are subject to state control and supervision with respect to issuing, or refusing to issue, marriage licenses,” Bunning wrote.

Davis ignited a firestorm and attracted national attention when in the summer of 2015, according to Bunning’s order, she “unilaterally decided that her office would no longer issue marriage licenses to any couples, same-sex or otherwise,” in the wake of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage.

Four days after that ruling, April Miller and Karen Roberts sought a license to marry from Davis’ office and were denied. Other same-sex couples were also subsequently denied marriage licenses.

Miller, Roberts, Shantel Burke, Stephen Napier, Jody Fernandez, Kevin Holloway, Aaron Skaggs, and Barry Spartman sued to force Davis to issue the licenses. Davis countersued, claiming the state and then Gov. Steve Beshear were violating her deeply held religious beliefs by trying to compel her to issue the licenses.

Beshear, who had challenged an earlier court ruling requiring Kentucky to recognize same-sex marriage, wrote clerks after the Supreme Court ruling that they then had no choice but to comply with the ruling.

But Davis refused, citing her religious beliefs.

Bunning issued a preliminary injunction in August of that year, ordering Davis to issue the licenses and, when she refused, ordered her to jail for contempt. That prompted a rally by Davis’ supporters, including attendance by then gubernatorial candidate Republican Matt Bevin, who was subsequently elected in November, and then-Republican-presidential-candidates Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz.

After one of Davis’ deputy clerks agreed to issue the licenses, Bunning ordered Davis released from jail.

But Bunning said in his latest ruling Kentucky could have pursued criminal charges against Davis or the legislature could have impeached Davis and removed her from office.

He said Davis isn’t responsible for the plaintiffs’ legal fees because she acted in her official capacity as a representative of the state when she refused to issue the same-sex couples marriage licenses.

Davis’ attorney, Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, a religious and legal advocacy organization, was happy Bunning didn’t find Davis liable for legal fees but nonetheless took issue with his ruling.

Staver disagreed the plaintiffs prevailed in the litigation because the Kentucky General Assembly subsequently passed a law which allows clerks to issue licenses without their personal signatures, accommodating Davis’ original objection to issuing the licenses in her name.

But Bunning wrote in his opinion that the plaintiffs “prevailed by every measure of victory.” The plaintiffs secured marriage licenses which can’t be revoked and were married.

“That is enduring relief,” Bunning wrote. “There is nothing more the court could do.”

The Bevin administration is reviewing the opinion.  Miller, reached by phone Friday, declined to comment, referring questions to Sharp of the ACLU of Kentucky.

Ronnie Ellis writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. Reach him at rellis@cnhi.com. Follow CNHI News Service stories on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cnhifrankfort.