Kim Davis Won’t Be Arrested Again Promises ‘Patriot’ Militia Group That Waged Cliven Bundy Standoff
The group that battled federal marshals at the Cliven Bundy ranch has sent its members to protect Kim Davis from arrest.Â
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes says he and members of his militia group will protect Kim Davis should federal marshals try to arrest her again. The group, best known for waging a standoff with federal marshals last year at the Cliven Bundy ranch in Nevada, and more recently of showing up and promising to arm protestors in Ferguson, has a long history of anti-government activism.
“As far as we’re concerned, this is not over,†Rhodes told fellow anti-government activists yesterday, “and this judge needs to be put on notice that his behavior is not going to be accepted and we’ll be there to stop it and intercede ourselves if we have to.”
“If the sheriff, who should be interceding, is not going to do his job and the governor is not going to do the governor’s job of interceding, then we’ll do it,” Rhodes promised.
Right Wing Watch reports “Rhodes said that he was on his way to Kentucky to help with the Davis operation,” and said he had “reached out to Davis’ lawyers at Liberty Counsel to offer the protection of his group, which he says is already forming a presence in Rowan County, Kentucky, where Davis was recently released from jail after prohibiting her office from issuing marriage licenses.”
On the Oath Keepers’ website, Rhodes claims Judge David Bunning “grossly overstepped his bounds and violated Mrs Davis’ due process rights, and in particular her right to a jury trial.”Â
“No one man should have that kind of power in his hands alone to decide guilt and impose a sentence of indefinite detention,” he continues. “Under our Constitution, that dictatorial power does not exist. We must stand against this. And so we will protect her and prevent it from happening again.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled Rhodes an “extremist” and part of the anti-government movement.
“Yale Law School graduate Stewart Rhodes in 2009 founded the far-right Oath Keepers, a fiercely antigovernment, militaristic group that improbably claims more than 30,000 law enforcement officers, soldiers and military veterans as members,” the Southern Poverty Law Center reports.Â
Here’s Rhodes speaking last year at the Bundy Ranch:
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Image: Screenshot via Aaron Preciado/YouTube
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