Mike Huckabee says Hillary Clinton should go to jail before the anti-gay marriage Kentucky clerk
"We must end the criminalization of Christianity!" Huckabee declared on Twitter later in the day.
The clerk, Kim Davis of Rowan County, steadfastly defied the Supreme Court's ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide - and a subsequent order to issue licenses.
Davis declared she was acting under "under God's authority." Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, used similar language to describe the ruling.
"We must defend religious liberty and never surrender to judicial tyranny. Five, unelected Supreme Court lawyers did not and cannot make law. They can only make rulings. The Supreme Court is not the Supreme branch and it's certainly not the Supreme Being," he said in a statement to his supporters Thursday.
But the legal system disagreed with that assessment, and Davis was found in contempt of court.
Many social conservatives said they were outraged that her religious rights were not being respected. Huckabee took things a step further, however, by writing on Twitter that it would make more sense for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential front-runner, to be jailed:
Huckabee's tweet is likely referencing the ongoing email controversy dogging Clinton's campaign. Clinton exclusively used a personal email server while at the State Department, which she erased after turning over the emails she said were relevant to her job.
Additionally, she has been criticized for potentially leaving classified material on an unclassified system. She has not been accused of criminal wrongdoing.
Clinton has maintained that she did not send or receive emails that were marked classified at the time. However, dozens have already been retroactively classified as her emails are slowly released to the public. Additionally, some reports have claimed that certain material in her account was inherently classified under federal protocol.
Huckabee, who said he was heading to Kentucky next week, also suggested that San Francisco officials who flaunt federal immigration laws should be jailed if Davis is: