A federal judge just ordered the immediate release of jailed Kentucky clerk Kim Davis

A U.S. district judge ordered Tuesday the immediate release of Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, who has been jailed since Thursday for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Rowan County due to her religious opposition. Judge David Bunning wrote that upon release, Davis cannot interfere with the deputy clerks who have been issuing licenses in her absence, BuzzFeed News reports.

Davis, who had just appealed her contempt of court ruling, has received support from hundreds of protesters as well as Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee.

"Believing that marriage is the union of a man and a woman, only, and acting in accordance with those beliefs, are not crimes in Kentucky, or elsewhere," Davis' lawyers wrote. "To prosecute Davis as if she is a criminal is wrong, and, to do so without guaranteeing her the rights of one so accused, is still worse."

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