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Thomas Johnson gets it about right. Even non-elite universities are in an arms race to seem attractive to students who might apply. You might argue, with some justice, that this is the university's fault, but it references a much larger problem. Today's students want dorm rooms that are at least as good (ideally better) than their bedroom at home, a new fitness center that looks great even if most students use it only a few times, and Internet speeds much better than at home. Parents also demand more from students services -- career centers, health and especially psychiatry availability, etc.Athletics are a financial problem. Only 5 or 10 universities actually break even or have a profit -- the usual suspects (Texas, Alabama, Ohio State, etc.). Donations that arguably would not go to academic purposes (although there's no good data that this is the case) make up part. But most universities are out of pocket a significant amount. Why? Because the alumni demand it, and guess what? Students like to attend schools with good jock teams. When you have a head football coach making more than the president, usually by a significant amount, you've got problems. Financial aid to jocks is a huge expense, partially covered by endowment and donations but a double cost to the university which has to come up with the scholarship money for the jocks and loses the opportunity to have tuition paying students fill their places.Universities need new buildings with new technology and in the case of science buildings to house the latest equipment. Classrooms that are often hard to fit into building plans are very expensive. Guess what? Universities that have smaller classes require more classrooms. Gone are the days when a builder came in, looked around and built a functional building that more or less matched the rest of the buildings. Architects (often famous ones) cost money; they build pretty buildings. I'm guessing that building supplies have risen more than the general cost of living.Utilities have risen dramatically, and again much more than cost of living generally.Library costs have gone up exponentially. It's not uncommon for major scientific journals to cost $3000 or $4000 a year as subscriptions. All institutions that sponsor journals charge far more for library subscriptions than for individual. Well, let's just go all electronic. Makes sense. Yes, except the charges for electronic subscriptions are usually the same as for paper and often require that the library purchase paper copies to get the on-line stuff. Has anyone noticed that books seem to cost a whole lot more now than then. Well they do, and the rise is more than inflation. Students who used to buy a semester's load of books for $100 now sometimes pay double that amount for one book -- science texts often even more (and, no, Kindle will not solve that problem) Book budgets for libraries have again risen faster than inflation, much faster.Most of a university's budget goes for salaries. Faculty are now paid a living wage, some would argue too handsomely. Some faculty get really high salaries, but it costs big bucks to get a famous person on board. Why does that matter? Arms race, again. On the other hand, famous faculty attract other famous faculty, and more research money, and better graduate students, and, also, better undergraduates, perhaps for the wrong reasons. Many students (and their parents) like the possibility that they can take a class with a Nobel Prize winner, but in many places will never lay eyes on him or her. And while we're on salaries don't forget to add in contributions to retirement and health care, which seems to be going up at a rapid rate.Administrative costs at universities have risen dramatically as they have at almost all other organizations. Partially that's because of increased reporting responsibilities, more regulations, etc. At my former university when I arrived in 1989 the legal staff was one half time person borrowed from a major law firm in town. Now there is a whole office with several lawyer, all paid living wages I assume. I frankly have no idea what they do, but I'm pretty sure that they're busy. In fact I know they are.Several people have pointed to research costs. That's difficult to access. In most major universities research is largely funded by outside grants and is therefore self-supporting. In addition most grants come with indirect costs theoretically to support utilities, library costs etc. It's a big source of income, and major research universities would fold without indirect costs. There are other research costs, of course. Some graduate students may not have stipends that are fully covered by grants. and the university picks up the tab. Typically graduate students pay no tuition or it is paid by a funding agency. That makes graduate education very expensive as faculty devote more time to non-tuition paying students than those who pay (like undergraduates). Labs are built and remodeled by the university. New faculty off get substantial start-up costs to get their research off and running. There are, of course also research costs in the humanities although not nearly as much.Computer costs. Don't get me started. Faculty typically get a personal computer, but usually not top of the line. But the big expense is in maintaining the campus network and connections to the Internet. Gotta have it for research, for instruction, and to appeal to students. Classrooms have to be wired with the latest and greatest.And speaking of graduate education most law schools and business schools are self-supporting although not necessarily when utilities, maintenance., etc is included. Medical school lose incredible amounts of money although you need a PhD in accounting to try to figure out what medical education costs. It's complicated, but no matter how you do the spread sheet, medical schools are money swamps.Tuition costs a lot, but at most elite and semi-elite places something between one-third and one half of tuition is given back by scholarships, some externally funded, but at most places the university simply eats the expense. Some financial aid is in the form of loans or work, but many places put a cap on how much scholarship aid can be loans.As others have pointed out American universities not only look better (and often for good reasons), have better labs and libraries, what I'll call amenities are much better, dorms exist (which is often not the case in other countries) and are generally pretty nice, and faculty salaries relative to averages are higher. Of course, in US universities students actually attend classes (well at least sometimes) and don't end up in crowded lecture halls with little chance of access to instructors or even the ability to be able to take courses they need because they are over-enrolled.. Kids here have it much better, perhaps that's good, perhaps not. But that's what the market demands. And it's probably good generally.It has become a mantra of conservatives that the problem is the easy availability of loans. Because students can get easy money to pay for their expenses universities have no incentive to curtail costs. That's is very simplistic and mostly wrong. Universities don't run on money provided by student loans. Tuition (whether from loans or parents) typically pays about 25% of the cost of universities. The part supported by loans is some fraction of that and although it's not a trivial part of the budget, it's not a major part either. The fantasy (and it is that) seems to be that if we didn't give students loans, suddenly kids would stop applying and colleges would be forced through some logic of supply and demand to lower costs. Unfortunately it simply won't work generally. If everyone had to pay the full cost state universities and less elite ones probably would suffer a decline in applications and enrollments. However, most costs are not easily lowered. The easiest place would be in terms of building maintenance and salaries. The former means just kicking a can down the street, and if faculty salaries were frozen or, god forbid lowered, many would leave the profession or gravitate to places where they could make more money. Good riddance? Well, not really. We really don't need that kind of brain drain, already a major problem in the sciences. But the major solution, already occurring, is that instead of paying professors say $100,000 a year we'll hire adjuncts or graduate students to do the teaching. So let's do the math. Our mythical tenured professor teaches say 5 classes (although most teach fewer especially at the more elite universities) so that works out to $20,000 a class. But we can hire an adjunct for maybe as low as $5000 a class (what my previous university paid), and you don't have to have a degree in higher math to see where that's going. Also you don't have to pay retirement or health insurance, which adds something on the order of 20% to the salary of our professor. Now I should be very clear that many adjuncts work harder at teaching that tenure-track faculty and some are actually more effective at it. But they can't write effective letters of recommendation, provide research opportunities or even spend much time with students out of class as they rush from one teaching assignment to another.If we reduced loan opportunities the Harvards and Stanfords would still flourish quite nicely although they would probably be even more populated by rich kids. There are always going to be parents who are willing to pay almost anything so that they can have bragging rights about where their children go. It's hard to predict what might happen at state universities, but certainly the general consensus has been that education at such places has generally worsened once states stopped contributing as much. Cutting costs isn't going to make things better -- just cheaper. There seems to be some assumption that university administrations raise tuition on what amounts to a whim without worrying about the effects on their students. Nothing could be further from the truth. Raising tuition is usually an agonizing decision,, and one not taken lightly.Cutting down loan possibilities as a way of putting pressure on universities is about the same as cutting government spending to reduce the deficit. In principle that sounds great, but in practice it's hard to get agreement on what to cut and most of the items that are easiest to cut have little impact on over-all spending. For better or worse in some important respects higher education is beyond the laws of supply and demand. In that it's like American medicine.There's much more to be said, and I agree that in some ways higher education is out of wack or at least has screwy priorities. But it's hard to make education cheaper, and college administrators spend a huge amount of their time trying to figure out ways to lower costs within the various constraints they have. There are some things we could do to make education cheaper, but most would decrease the perceived and probably real benefits. What we might do is for a different discussion but curtaining loans is not a good idea because it would not solve the problem and would make it harder for poor kids, who most need the education, to go to college.ADDITION 3/12/19: Recently Rice University announced a policy of free tuition for children from families that make less than $130,000/yr, and no tuition or room and board fees for those making less than $65,000/yr. Students who come from families making less than $200,000/yr will also not be required to take out loans although they will be expected to earn money during the summer or while on campus. Most elite universities have adopted similar programs. At Rice tuition is $47000, room & board $14000, fees are $745, and books $1200. Harvard, Stanford, etc. are slightly greater.Of course, many private colleges are more dependent on tuition income and cannot afford to be so generous, but even there financial aid often covers a substantial part of costs. State universities, of course, are much cheaper and generally have fewer resources to offset tuition. In that regard it’s important to note that one reason tuition has risen so fast at state universities is because almost all state legislatures have cut their support of higher education dramatically. As one example, in 1984 the state of Texas paid 47% of the costs of the budget at the University of Texas, with tuition accounting for 5%; in 2018 the state paid 12% and tuition revenues 21%. Now there is a legitimate argument that students who benefit from a college degree should pay for it rather than the state. But that is short-sighted since the entire state benefits from having well educated folks around and about. By the same logic, I who have no children in elementary and high school should not be “forced” to pay for the education of the children across the street who go to public schools. Historically Americans have always believed that support for education provided general benefits and should be paid by all. At any rate, the primary reason for rising costs at state universities has been the decreasing support from the state. Whether that is fair or wise can be debated.

Although this link has been posted in a comment, I want to specifically post a link to the actual judgment.It's a model of clear thinking, and should be read beginning to end for a full overview: Google ScholarEdit to add: I've added the full text below for those who cannot click the link:________________________________APRIL MILLER, et al. Plaintiffs.v.KIM DAVIS, individually and in her official capacity, et al., Defendants.Civil Action No. 15-44-DLB.United States District Court, E.D. Kentucky, Northern Division at Ashland.August 12, 2015.MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDERDAVID L. BUNNING, District Judge.I. IntroductionThis matter is before the Court on Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction (Doc. # 2). Plaintiffs are two same-sex and two opposite-sex couples seeking to enjoin Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis from enforcing her own marriage licensing policy. On June 26, 2015, just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court held that states are constitutionally required to recognize same-sex marriage, Davis announced that the Rowan County Clerk's Office would no longer issue marriage licenses to anycouples. See Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 2584 (2015). Davis, an Apostolic Christian with a sincere religious objection to same-sex marriage, specifically sought to avoid issuing licenses to same-sex couples without discriminating against them. Plaintiffs now allege that this "no marriage licenses" policy substantially interferes with their right to marry because it effectively forecloses them from obtaining a license in their home county. Davis insists that her policy poses only an incidental burden on Plaintiffs' right to marry, which is justified by the need to protect her own free exercise rights.The Court held preliminary injunction hearings on July 13, 2015 and July 20, 2015. Plaintiffs April Miller, Karen Roberts, Jody Fernandez, Kevin Holloway, Barry Spartman, Aaron Skaggs, Shantel Burke and Stephen Napier were represented by William Sharp of the Americans for Civil Liberties Union ("ACLU") and Daniel Canon. Jonathan Christman and Roger Gannam, both of the Liberty Counsel, and A.C. Donahue appeared on behalf of Defendant Kim Davis. Rowan County Attorney Cecil Watkins and Jeff Mando represented Defendant Rowan County. Official Court Reporters Peggy Weber and Lisa Wiesman recorded the proceedings. At the conclusion of the second hearing, the Court submitted the Motion pending receipt of the parties' response and reply briefs. The Court having received those filings (Docs. # 28, 29 and 36), this matter is now ripe for review.At its core, this civil action presents a conflict between two individual liberties held sacrosanct in American jurisprudence. One is the fundamental right to marry implicitly recognized in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The other is the right to free exercise of religion explicitly guaranteed by the First Amendment. Each party seeks to exercise one of these rights, but in doing so, they threaten to infringe upon the opposing party's rights. The tension between these constitutional concerns can be resolved by answering one simple question: Does the Free Exercise Clause likely excuse Kim Davis from issuing marriage licenses because she has a religious objection to same-sex marriage? For reasons stated herein, the Court answers this question in the negative.II. Factual and Procedural BackgroundPlaintiffs April Miller and Karen Roberts have been in a committed same-sex relationship for eleven years. (Doc. # 21 at 25). After hearing about the Obergefelldecision, they went to the Rowan County Clerk's Office and requested a marriage license from one of the deputy clerks. (Id. at 25-26). The clerk immediately excused herself and went to speak with Kim Davis. (Id. at 28). When she returned, she informed the couple that the Rowan County Clerk's Office was not issuing any marriage licenses. (Id.). Plaintiffs Kevin Holloway and Jody Fernandez, a committed opposite-sex couple, had a similar experience when they tried to obtain a marriage license from the Rowan County Clerk's Office. (Id. at 36).Both couples went straight to Rowan County Judge Executive Walter Blevins and asked him to issue their marriage licenses. (Id. at 30-32, 36). Blevins explained that, under Kentucky law, a county judge executive can only issue licenses when the elected county clerk is absent. See Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 402.240. Because Davis continued to perform her other duties as Rowan County Clerk, Blevins concluded that she was not "absent" within the meaning of the statute. (Id.). Therefore, he did not believe that he had the authority to issue their marriage licenses. (Id.).Plaintiffs Barry Spartman and Aaron Skaggs also planned to solemnize their long-term relationship post-Obergefell. (Id. at 42-44). Before going to the Rowan County Clerk's Office, they phoned ahead and asked for information about the marriage licensing process. (Id.). They wanted to make sure that they brought all necessary documentation with them. (Id.). One of the deputy clerks told the couple "not to bother coming down" because they would not be issued a license. (Id.).Seven neighboring counties (Bath, Fleming, Lewis, Carter, Elliott, Morgan and Menifee) are currently issuing marriage licenses. (Doc. # 26 at 53). All are less than an hour away from the Rowan County seat of Morehead. (Id.). While Plaintiffs have the means to travel to any one of these counties, they have admittedly chosen not to do so. (Doc. # 21 at 38, 48). They strongly prefer to have their licenses issued in Rowan County because they have significant ties to that community. (Id. at 28-29, 47). They live, work, socialize, vote, pay taxes and conduct other business in and around Morehead. (Id.). Quite simply, Rowan County is their home.According to Kim Davis, the Rowan County Clerk's Office serves as a "pass through collection agency" for the State of Kentucky. (Doc. # 26 at 24-25). She and her six deputy clerks regularly handle delinquent taxes, oversee elections, manage voter registration and issue hunting and fishing licenses. (Id.). A portion of the fees collected in exchange for these services is used to fund the Office's activities throughout the year. (Id.). The remainder is remitted to the State. (Id.).Under Kentucky law, county clerks are also responsible for issuing marriage licenses.[1] See Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 402.080. The process is quite simple. The couple must first go to the county clerk's office and provide their biographical information to one of the clerks. See Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 402.100. The clerk then enters the information into a computer-generated form, prints it and signs it. Id. This form signifies that the couple is licensed, or legally qualified, to marry.[2] Id. At the appropriate time, the couple presents this form to their officiant, who must certify that he or she performed a valid marriage ceremony. Id. The couple then has thirty days to return the form to the clerk's office for recording. See Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 402.220, 402.230. The State will not recognize marriages entered into without a valid license therefor. See Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 402.080.The Kentucky Department of Libraries and Archives ("KDLA") prescribes the above-mentioned form, which must be used by all county clerks in issuing marriage licenses.[3] Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 402.100, 402.110. It is composed of three sections, which correspond to the steps detailed above: (1) a marriage license, to be completed by a county or deputy clerk; (2) a marriage certificate, to be completed by a qualified officiant; and (3) a recording statement, to be completed by a county or deputy clerk. The marriage license section has the following components:(a) An authorization statement of the county clerk issuing the license for any person or religious society authorized to perform marriage ceremonies to unite in marriage the persons named;(b) Vital information for each party, including the full name, date of birth, place of birth, race, condition (single, widowed, or divorced), number of previous marriages, occupation, current residence, relationship to the other party, and full names of parents; and(c) The date and place the license is issued, and the signature of the county clerk or deputy clerk issuing the license.See Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 402.100(1) (emphasis added).Davis does not want to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples because they will bear the above-mentioned authorization statement. She sees it as an endorsement of same-sex marriage, which runs contrary to her Apostolic Christian beliefs. (Id. at 42). Four of Davis' deputy clerks share her religious objection to same-sex marriage, and another is undecided on the subject. (Id. at 49). The final deputy clerk is willing to issue the licenses, but Davis will not allow it because her name and title still appear twice on licenses that she does not personally sign. (Doc. # 29-3 at 7).In the wake of Obergefell, Governor Beshear issued the following directive to all county clerks:Effective today, Kentucky will recognize as valid all same sex marriages performed in other states and in Kentucky. In accordance with my instruction, all executive branch agencies are already working to make any operational changes that will be necessary to implement the Supreme Court decision. Now that same-sex couples are entitled to the issuance of a marriage license, the Department of Libraries and Archives will be sending a gender-neutral form to you today, along with instructions for its use.(Doc. # 29-3 at 11). He has since addressed some of the religious concerns expressed by some county clerks:You can continue to have your own personal beliefs but, you're also taking an oath to fulfill the duties prescribed by law, and if you are at that point to where your personal convictions tell you that you simply cannot fulfill your duties that you were elected to do, th[e]n obviously an honorable course to take is to resign and let someone else step in who feels that they can fulfill those duties.(Doc. # 29-11). Davis is well aware of these directives. Nevertheless, she plans to implement her "no marriage licenses" policy for the remaining three and a half years of her term as Rowan County Clerk. (Doc. # 26 at 67).III. Standard of ReviewA district court must consider four factors when entertaining a motion for preliminary injunction:(1) whether the movant has demonstrated a strong likelihood of success on the merits;(2) whether the movant would suffer irreparable harm;(3) whether an injunction would cause substantial harm to others; and(4) whether the public interest would be served by the issuance of such an injunction.See Suster v. Marshall, 149 F.3d 523, 528 (6th Cir. 1998). These "are factors to be balanced, and not prerequisites that must be met." In re Eagle Picher Indus., Inc.,963 F.3d 855, 859 (6th Cir. 1992) (stating further that these factors "simply guide the discretion of the court").IV. AnalysisA. Defendant Kim Davis in her official capacityPlaintiffs are pursuing this civil rights action against Defendants Rowan County and Kim Davis, in her individual and official capacities, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983:Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress . . .This statute "is not itself a source of substantive rights, but merely provides a method for vindicating federal rights elsewhere conferred." Albright v. Oliver, 510 U.S. 266, 271 (1994) (internal quotations omitted).At this stage of the litigation, Plaintiffs seek to vindicate their constitutional rights by obtaining injunctive relief against Defendant Kim Davis, in her official capacity as Rowan County Clerk. Because official capacity suits "generally represent only another way of pleading an action against an entity of which an officer is an agent," one might assume that Plaintiffs are effectively pursuing injunctive relief against Rowan County. Monell v. New York City Dep't of Soc. Serv., 436 U.S. 658, 690 n. 55 (1978). However, Rowan County can only be held liable under § 1983 if its policy or custom caused the constitutional deprivation. Id. at 694.A single decision made by an official with final policymaking authority in the relevant area may qualify as a policy attributable to the entity. Pembaur v. City of Cincinnati,475 U.S. 469, 482-83 (1986). Whether an official acted as a final policymaker is a question of state or local law. Id. However, courts must avoid categorizing an official as a state or municipal actor "in some categorical, `all or nothing' manner." McMillian v. Monroe Cnty., Ala., 520 U.S. 781, 785 (1997). They key inquiry is whether an official is a "final policymaker [] for the local government in a particular area, or on a particular issue." Id. Accordingly, the Court will focus on whether Davis likely acted as a final policymaker for Rowan County regarding the issuance of marriage licenses.While Davis is the elected Rowan County Clerk, subject to very little oversight by the Rowan County Fiscal Court, there are no other facts in the record to suggest that she set marriage policy for Rowan County. After all, the State of Kentucky has "absolute jurisdiction over the regulation of the institution of marriage." Pinkhasov v. Petocz, 331 S.W.3d 285, 291 (Ky. Ct. App. 2011). The State not only enacts marriage laws, it prescribes procedures for county clerks to follow when carrying out those laws, right down to the form they must use in issuing marriage licenses. Id.; see also Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 402.080, 402.100. Thus, Davis likely acts for the State of Kentucky, and not as a final policymaker for Rowan County, when issuing marriage licenses.This preliminary finding does not necessarily foreclose Plaintiffs from obtaining injunctive relief against Davis. While the Eleventh Amendment typically bars Plaintiffs from bringing suit against a state or its officials, "official-capacity actions for prospective relief are not treated as actions against the state." Kentucky v. Graham,473 U.S. 159, 167 n. 14 (1985). This narrow exception, known as the Ex Parte Young doctrine, permits a federal court to "enjoin state officials to conform their future conduct to the requirements of federal law." Quern v. Jordan, 440 U.S. 332, 337 (1979) (citing Ex Parte Young, 209 U.S. 123 (1908)). "It rests on the premise-less delicately called a `fiction,'-that when a federal court commands a state official to do nothing more than refrain from violating federal law, he is not the State for sovereign immunity purposes." Va. Office for Prot. and Advocacy v. Stewart, 131 S. Ct. 1632, 1638 (2011). Because Plaintiffs seek to enjoin Davis from violating their federal constitutional rights, this Court has the power to grant relief under Ex Parte Young.[4]B. Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction1. Plaintiffs' likelihood of success on the meritsa. The fundamental right to marryUnder the Fourteenth Amendment, a state may not "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1. This "due process" clause has both a procedural component and a substantive component. See EJS Prop., LLC v. City of Toledo, 698 F.3d 845, 855 (6th Cir. 2012). Procedural due process simply requires that the government provide a fair procedure when depriving an individual of life, liberty or property. Id. By contrast, substantive due process "protects a narrow class of interests, including those enumerated in the Constitution, those so rooted in the traditions of the people as to be ranked fundamental, and the interest in freedom from government actions that `shock the conscience.'" Range v. Douglas, 763 F.3d 573, 588 (6th Cir. 2014).Although the Constitution makes no mention of the right to marry, the U.S. Supreme Court has identified it as a fundamental interest subject to Fourteenth Amendment protection. Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1, 12 (1967) (striking down Virginia's anti-miscegenation statutes as violative of the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment). After all, "[t]he freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men." Id. This right applies with equal force to different-sex and same-sex couples. Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 2584, 2604-05 (2015) ("[T]he right to marry is a fundamental right inherent in the liberty of the person, and under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment same-sex couples may not be deprived of that right and that liberty.").If a state law or policy "significantly interferes with the exercise of a fundamental right[, it] cannot be upheld unless it is supported by sufficiently important state interests and is closely tailored to effectuate only those interests." Zablocki v. Redhail, 434 U.S. 374, 388 (1978). A state substantially interferes with the right to marry when some members of the affected class "are absolutely prevented from getting married" and "[m]any others, able in theory to satisfy the statute's requirements[,] will be sufficiently burdened by having to do so that they will in effect be coerced into forgoing their right to marry." Id. at 387 (invalidating a Wisconsin statute that required individuals with child support obligations to obtain a court order before marrying).However, "not every state action, `which relates in any way to the incidents of or the prerequisites for marriage must be subjected to rigorous scrutiny.'" Wright v. MetroHealth Med. Ctr., 58 F.3d 1130, 1134 (6th Cir. 1995) (quoting Zablocki, 434 U.S. at 386). States may impose "reasonable regulations that do not significantly interfere with decisions to enter into the marital relationship." Id. at 1135. If the statute does not create a "direct legal obstacle in the path of persons desiring to get married" or significantly discourage marriage, then it will be upheld so long as it is rationally related to a legitimate government interest. Id. (quoting Zablocki 434 U.S. at 387-88 n. 12); see also Califano v. Jobst, 434 U.S. 47, 54 n.11 (1977) (upholding a Social Security provision that terminated secondary benefits received by the disabled dependent child of a covered wage earner if that child married an individual who was not entitled to benefits).The state action at issue in this case is Defendant Davis' refusal to issue anymarriage licenses. Plaintiffs contend that Davis' "no marriage licenses" policy significantly interferes with their right to marry because they are unable to obtain a license in their home county. Davis insists that her policy does not significantly discourage Plaintiffs from marrying because they have several other options for obtaining licenses: (1) they may go to one of the seven neighboring counties that areissuing marriage licenses; (2) they may obtain licenses from Rowan County Judge Executive Walter Blevins; or (3) they may avail themselves of other alternatives being considered post-Obergefell.Davis is correct in stating that Plaintiffs can obtain marriage licenses from one of the surrounding counties; thus, they are not totally precluded from marrying in Kentucky. However, this argument ignores the fact that Plaintiffs have strong ties to Rowan County. They are long-time residents who live, work, pay taxes, vote and conduct other business in Morehead. Under these circumstances, it is understandable that Plaintiffs would prefer to obtain their marriage licenses in their home county. And for other Rowan County residents, it may be more than a preference. The surrounding counties are only thirty minutes to an hour away, but there are individuals in this rural region of the state who simply do not have the physical, financial or practical means to travel.[5]This argument also presupposes that Rowan County will be the only Kentucky county not issuing marriage licenses. While Davis may be the only clerk currently turning away eligible couples, 57 of the state's 120 elected county clerks have asked Governor Beshear to call a special session of the state legislature to address religious concerns related to same-sex marriage licenses.[6] (Doc. # 29-9). If this Court were to hold that Davis' policy did not significantly interfere with the right to marry, what would stop the other 56 clerks from following Davis' approach? What might be viewed as an inconvenience for residents of one or two counties quickly becomes a substantial interference when applicable to approximately half of the state.As for her assertion that Judge Blevins may issue marriage licenses, Davis is only partially correct. KRS § 402.240 provides that, "[i]n the absence of the county clerk, or during a vacancy in the office, the county judge/executive may issue the license and, in so doing, he shall perform the duties and incur all the responsibilities of the clerk." The statute does not explicitly define "absence," suggesting that a traditional interpretation of the term is appropriate. See Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, 2015, Dictionary and Thesaurus | Merriam-Webster, (describing "absence" as "a period of time when someone is not present at a place, job, etc."). However, Davis asks the Court to deem her "absent," for purposes of this statute, because she has a religious objection to issuing the licenses. While this is certainly a creative interpretation, Davis offers no legal precedent to support it.This proposal also has adverse consequences for Judge Blevins. If he began issuing marriage licenses while Davis continued to perform her other duties as Rowan County Clerk, he would likely be exceeding the scope of his office. After all, KRS § 402.240 only authorizes him to issue marriage licenses when Davis is unableto do so; it does not permit him to assume responsibility for duties that Davis does not wish to perform. Such an arrangement not only has the potential to create tension between the next judge executive and county clerk, it sets the stage for further manipulation of statutorily defined duties.[7] Under these circumstances, the Court simply cannot count this as a viable option for Plaintiffs to obtain their marriage licenses.Davis finally suggests that Plaintiffs will have other avenues for obtaining marriage licenses in the future. For example, county clerks have urged Governor Beshear to create an online marriage licensing system, which would be managed by the State of Kentucky. While these options may be available someday, they are not feasible alternatives at present. Thus, they have no impact on the Court's "substantial interference" analysis.Having considered Davis' arguments in depth, the Court finds that Plaintiffs have one feasible avenue for obtaining their marriage licenses-they must go to another county. Davis makes much of the fact that Plaintiffs are able to travel, but she fails to address the one question that lingers in the Court's mind. Even if Plaintiffs are able to obtain licenses elsewhere, why should they be required to? The state has long entrusted county clerks with the task of issuing marriage licenses. It does not seem unreasonable for Plaintiffs, as Rowan County voters, to expect their elected official to perform her statutorily assigned duties. And yet, that is precisely what Davis is refusing to do. Much like the statutes at issue in Loving and Zablocki, Davis' "no marriage licenses" policy significantly discourages many Rowan County residents from exercising their right to marry and effectively disqualifies others from doing so. The Court must subject this policy apply heightened scrutiny.b. The absence of a compelling state interestWhen pressed to articulate a compelling state interest served by her "no marriage licenses" policy, Davis responded that it serves the State's interest in protecting her religious freedom. The State certainly has an obligation to "observe the basic free exercise rights of its employees," but this is not the extent of its concerns. Marchi v. Bd. of Coop. Educ. Serv. of Albany, 173 F.3d 469, 476 (2d. Cir. 1999). In fact, the State has some priorities that run contrary to Davis' proffered state interest. Chief among these is its interest in preventing Establishment Clause violations. See U.S. Const. amend. I (declaring that "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion"). Davis has arguably committed such a violation by openly adopting a policy that promotes her own religious convictions at the expenses of others.[8] In such situations, "the scope of the employees' rights must [] yield to the legitimate interest of governmental employer in avoiding litigation." Marchi, 173 F.3d at 476.The State also has a countervailing interest in upholding the rule of law. See generally Papachristou v. City of Jacksonville, 405 U.S. 156, 171 (1972) ("The rule of law, evenly applied to minorities as well as majorities, . . . is the great mucilage that holds society together."). Our form of government will not survive unless we, as a society, agree to respect the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions, regardless of our personal opinions. Davis is certainly free to disagree with the Court's opinion, as many Americans likely do, but that does not excuse her from complying with it. To hold otherwise would set a dangerous precedent.For these reasons, the Court concludes that Davis' "no marriage licenses" policy likely infringes upon Plaintiffs' rights without serving a compelling state interest. Because Plaintiffs have demonstrated a strong likelihood of success on the merits of their claim, this first factor weighs in favor of granting their request for relief.2. Potential for irreparable harm to PlaintiffsWhen a plaintiff demonstrates a likelihood of success on the merits of a constitutional deprivation claim, it follows that he or she will suffer irreparable injury absent injunctive relief. See Overstreet v. Lexington-Fayette Urban Cnty. Gov't, 305 F.3d 566, 578 (6th Cir. 2002) ("Courts have also held that a plaintiff can demonstrate that a denial of an injunction will cause irreparable harm if the claim is based upon a violation of the plaintiff's constitutional rights."); see also Connection Distrib. Co. v. Reno, 154 F.3d 281, 288 (6th Cir .1998) (finding that the loss of First Amendment rights for a minimal period of time results in irreparable harm); Ohio St. Conference of NAACP v. Husted, 43 F. Supp. 3d 808, 851 (S.D. Ohio 2014) (recognizing that a restriction on the fundamental right to vote constitutes irreparable injury).The Court is not aware of any Sixth Circuit case law explicitly stating that a denial of the fundamental right to marry constitutes irreparable harm. However, the case law cited above suggests that the denial of constitutional rights, enumerated or unenumerated, results in irreparable harm. It follows that Plaintiffs will suffer irreparable harm from Davis' "no marriage licenses" rule, absent injunctive relief. Therefore, this second factor also weighs in favor of granting Plaintiffs' Motion.3. Potential for substantial harm to Kim Davisa. The right to free exercise of religionThe First Amendment provides that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." See Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U.S. 296, 303 (1940) (applying the First Amendment to the states via the Fourteenth Amendment). This Free Exercise Clause "embraces two concepts,—freedom to believe and freedom to act." Id. at 304. "The first is absolute but, in the nature of things, the second cannot be." Id. Therefore, "[c]onduct remains subject to regulation for the protection of society." Id.Traditionally, a free exercise challenge to a particular law triggered strict scrutiny.See, e.g., Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. 398, 407 (1963). A statute would only be upheld if it served a compelling government interest and was narrowly tailored to effectuate that interest. Id. However, the U.S. Supreme Court has retreated slightly from this approach. See Emp't Div., Dep't of Human Res. of Oregon v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990); Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520 (1993). While laws targeting religious conduct remain subject to strict scrutiny, "[a] law that is neutral and of general applicability need not be justified by a compelling governmental interest even if the law has the incidental effect of burdening a particular religious practice." Babalu, 508 U.S. at 532; see also Smith, 494 U.S. at 880 (stating further that an individual's religious beliefs do not "excuse him from compliance with an otherwise valid law prohibiting conduct that the State is free to regulate")."Neutrality and general applicability are interrelated, and . . . failure to satisfy one requirement is a likely indication that the other has not been satisfied." Babalu, 508 U.S. at 532. A law is not neutral if its object "is to infringe upon or restrict practices because of their religious motivation." Id. at 533 (finding that a local ordinance forbidding animal sacrifice was not neutral because it focused on "rituals" and had built-in exemptions for most other animal killings). The Court has not yet "defined with precision the standard used to evaluate whether a prohibition is of general application." Id. at 543. However, it has observed that "[t]he Free Exercise Clause `protect[s] religious observers against unequal treatment,' and inequality results when a legislature decides that the governmental interests it seeks to advance are worthy of being pursued only against conduct with a religious motivation." Id. at 542.While Smith and Babalu do not explicitly mention the term "rational basis," lower courts have interpreted them as imposing a similar standard of review on neutral laws of general applicability. See, e.g., Seger v. Ky. High Sch. Athletic Ass'n, 453 F. App's 630, 634 (2011). Under rational basis review, laws will be upheld if they are "rationally related to furthering a legitimate state interest." Id. at 635 (noting that "[a] law or regulation subject to rational basis review is accorded a strong presumption of validity"); see also F.C.C. v. Beach Commc'ns, Inc., 508 U.S. 307, 313 (1993)(stating generally that laws subject to rational basis review must be upheld "if there is any reasonably conceivable state of facts that could provide a rational basis for the classification").In response to Smith and Babalu, Congress enacted the Religious Freedom Restoration Act ("RFRA"). See 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb-1. It prohibits the government from "substantially burden[ing] a person's exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability," except when the government demonstrates that the burden is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest and is the least restrictive means of furthering that interest. Id. Although Congress intended RFRA to apply to the states as well as the federal government, the Court held that this was an unconstitutional exercise of Congress' powers under Section Five of the Fourteenth Amendment. City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507, 512 (1997). Free exercise challenges to federal laws remain subject to RFRA, while similar challenges to state policies are governed by Smith. See, e.g., Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., 134 S. Ct. 2751 (2014).For purposes of this inquiry, the state action at issue is Governor Beshear's post-Obergefell directive, which explicitly instructs county clerks to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Davis argues that the Beshear directive not only substantially burdens her free exercise rights by requiring her to disregard sincerely-held religious beliefs, it does not serve a compelling state interest. She further insists that Governor Beshear could easily grant her a religious exemption without adversely affecting Kentucky's marriage licensing scheme, as there are readily available alternatives for obtaining licenses in and around Rowan County.[9]This argument proceeds on the assumption that Governor Beshear's policy is not neutral or generally applicable, and is therefore subject to strict scrutiny.[10]However, the text itself supports a contrary inference. Governor Beshear first describes the legal impact of the Court's decision in Obergefell, then provides guidance for all county clerks in implementing this new law. His goal is simply to ensure that the activities of the Commonwealth are consistent with U.S. Supreme Court jurisprudence.While facial neutrality is not dispositive, Davis has done little to convince the Court that Governor Beshear's directive aims to suppress religious practice. She has only one piece of anecdotal evidence to demonstrate that Governor Beshear "is picking and choosing the conscience-based exemptions to marriage that he deems acceptable." (Doc. # 29 at 24). In 2014, Attorney General Jack Conway declined to appeal a federal district court decision striking down Kentucky's constitutional and statutory prohibitions on same-sex marriage. (Doc. # 29-12). He openly stated that he could not, in good conscience, defend discrimination and waste public resources on a weak case.[11] (Id.). Instead of directing Attorney General Conway to pursue the appeal, regardless of his religious beliefs, Governor Beshear hired private attorneys for that purpose. (Doc. # 29-13). He has so far refused to extend such an "exemption" to county clerks with religious objections to same-sex marriage. (Doc. # 29-11).However, Davis fails to establish that her current situation is comparable to Attorney General Conway's position in 2014. Both are elected officials who have voiced strong opinions about same-sex marriage, but the comparison ends there. Governor Beshear did not actually "exempt" Attorney General Conway from pursuing the same-sex marriage appeal. Attorney General Conway's decision stands as an exercise of prosecutorial discretion on an unsettled legal question. By contrast, Davis is refusing to recognize the legal force of U.S. Supreme Court jurisprudence in performing her duties as Rowan County Clerk. Because the two are not similarly situated, the Court simply cannot conclude that Governor Beshear treated them differently based upon their religious convictions. There being no other evidence in the record to suggest that the Beshear directive is anything but neutral and generally applicable, it will likely be upheld if it is rationally related to a legitimate government purpose.The Beshear directive certainly serves the State's interest in upholding the rule of law. However, it also rationally relates to several narrower interests identified inObergefell. By issuing licenses to same-sex couples, the State allows them to enjoy "the right to personal choice regarding marriage [that] is inherent in the concept of individual autonomy" and enter into "a two-person union unlike any other in its importance to the committed individuals." 135 S. Ct. at 2599-2600. It also allows same-sex couples to take advantage of the many societal benefits and fosters stability for their children. Id. at 2600-01. Therefore, the Court concludes that it likely does not infringe upon Davis' free exercise rights.b. The right to free speechThe First Amendment provides that "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech." Under the Free Speech Clause, an individual has the "right to utter or print, [as well as] the right to distribute, the right to receive and the right to read." Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479, 483 (1965)(citing Martin v. City of Struthers, 319 U.S. 141, 143 (1943)). An individual also has the "right to refrain from speaking at all." Wooley v. Maynard, 430 U.S. 705, 714 (1977) (invalidating a state law that required New Hampshire drivers to display the state motto on their license plates). After all, "[a] system which secures the right to proselytize religious, political, and ideological causes must also guarantee the concomitant right to decline to foster such concepts." Id.While the Free Speech Clause protects citizens' speech rights from government intrusion, it does not stretch so far as to bar the government "from determining the content of what it says." Walker v. Tex. Div., Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc.,135 S. Ct. 2239, 2245-46 (2015). "[A]s a general matter, when the government speaks it is entitled to promote a program, to espouse a policy, or to take a position. In doing so, it represents its citizens and carries out its duties on their behalf." Id.That being said, the government's ability to express itself is not unlimited. Id. "[T]he Free Speech Clause itself may constrain the government's speech if, for example, the government seeks to compel private persons to convey the government's speech." Id. (stating further that "[c]onstitutional and statutory provisions outside of the Free Speech Clause may [also] limit government speech").This claim also implicates the Beshear directive. Davis contends that this directive violates her free speech rights by compelling her to express a message she finds objectionable. Specifically, Davis must issue marriage licenses bearing her "imprimatur and authority" as Rowan County Clerk to same-sex couples . Doc. # 29 at 27). Davis views such an act as an endorsement of same-sex marriage, which conflicts with her sincerely-held religious beliefs.As a preliminary matter, the Court questions whether the act of issuing a marriage license constitutes speech. Davis repeatedly states that the act of issuing these licenses requires her to "authorize" same-sex marriage. A close inspection of the KDLA marriage licensing form refutes this assertion. The form does not require the county clerk to condone or endorse same-sex marriage on religious or moral grounds. It simply asks the county clerk to certify that the information provided is accurate and that the couple is qualified to marry under Kentucky law. Davis' religious convictions have no bearing on this purely legal inquiry.The Court must also acknowledge the possibility that any such speech is attributable to the government, rather than Davis. See Walker, 135 S. Ct. at 2248 (finding that specialty license plates are government speech because the government has exercised final approval over the designs, and thus, chosen "how to present itself and its constituency"). The State prescribes the form that Davis must use in issuing marriage licenses. She plays no role in composing the form, and she has no discretion to alter it. Moreover, county clerks' offices issue marriage licenses on behalf of the State, not on behalf of a particular elected clerk.Assuming arguendo that the act of issuing a marriage license is speech by Davis, the Court must further consider whether the State is infringing upon her free speech rights by compelling her to convey a message she finds disagreeable. However, the seminal "compelled speech" cases provide little guidance because they focus on private individuals who are forced to communicate a particular message on behalf of the government. See, e.g., W. Va. Bd. of Educ. v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943)(striking down a state law that required schoolchildren to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and salute the flag). Davis is a public employee, and therefore, her speech rights are different than those of a private citizen.[12] Garcetti v. Ceballos,547 U.S. 410, 418 (2006)."[T]he government may not constitutionally compel persons to relinquish their First Amendment rights as a condition of public employment," but it does have "a freer hand in regulating the speech of its employees than it has in regulating the speech of the public at large." Connick v. Myers, 461 U.S. 138, 156 (1983); Waters v. Churchill,511 U.S. 661, 671 (1994). Accordingly, "[w]hen a citizen enters government service, the citizen by necessity must accept certain limitations on his or her freedom."Garcetti, 547 U.S. at 418; see also U.S. Civil Serv. Comm'n v. Nat'l Ass'n of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO, 413 U.S. 548, (1973) (stating that "neither the First Amendment nor any other provision of the Constitution" invalidates the Hatch Act's bar on partisan political conduct by federal employees)."[T]wo inquiries [] guide interpretation of the constitutional protections accorded to public employee speech." Garcetti, 547 U.S. at 418 (citing Pickering v. Bd. of Educ. of Twp. High Sch. Dist. 205, Will Cnty., Ill., 391 U.S. 563, 563 (1968)). First, a court must determine "whether the employee spoke as a citizen on a matter of public concern." Id. (explaining further that this question often depends upon whether the employee's speech was made pursuant to his or her official duties). Id. at 421. If the answer is no, then the employee's speech is not entitled to First Amendment protection. Id. at 421 ("Restricting speech that owes its existence to a public employee's professional responsibilities does not infringe any liberties the employee might have enjoyed as a private citizen."). If the answer is yes, a court must then consider "whether the relevant government entity had an adequate justification for treating the employee differently from any other member of the general public." Id.(stating further that the government's restrictions "must be directed at speech that has some potential to affect the entity's operations").The Court must adapt this test slightly because Davis' claim focuses on her right notto speak. In this context, the first inquiry is whether Davis refused to speak (i.e. refused to issue marriage licenses) as a citizen on a matter of public concern. The logical answer to this question is no, as the average citizen has no authority to issue marriage licenses. Davis is only able to issue these licenses, or refuse to issue them, because she is the Rowan County Clerk. Because her speech (in the form of her refusal to issue marriage licenses) is a product of her official duties, it likely is not entitled to First Amendment protection. The Court therefore concludes that Davis is unlikely to succeed on her compelled speech claim.c. The prohibition on religious testsArticle VI, § 3 of the U.S. Constitution provides as follows:The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.Under this Clause, "[t]he fact [] that a person is not compelled to hold public office cannot possibly be an excuse for barring him from office by state-imposed criteria forbidden by the Constitution." Torcaso v. Watkins, 367 U.S. 488 (1961) (striking down a state requirement that an individual declare his belief in God in order to become a notary public); see also McDaniel v. Paty, 435 U.S. 618 (1978)(invalidating a state law that prevented religious officials from serving in the state legislature).Davis contends that "[c]ompelling all individuals who have any connection with the issuance of marriage licenses . . . to authorize, approve, and participate in that act against their sincerely held religious beliefs about marriage, without providing accommodation, amounts to an improper religious test for holding (or maintaining) public office." (Doc. # 29 at 20). The Court must again point out that the act of issuing a marriage license to a same-sex couple merely signifies that the couple has met thelegal requirements to marry. It is not a sign of moral or religious approval. The State is not requiring Davis to express a particular religious belief as a condition of public employment, nor is it forcing her to surrender her free exercise rights in order to perform her duties. Thus, it seems unlikely that Davis will be able to establish a violation of the Religious Test Clause.Although Davis focuses on the Religious Test Clause, the Court must draw her attention to the first half of Article VI, Clause § 3. It requires all state officials to swear an oath to defend the U.S. Constitution. Davis swore such an oath when she took office on January 1, 2015. However, her actions have not been consistent with her words. Davis has refused to comply with binding legal jurisprudence, and in doing so, she has likely violated the constitutional rights of her constituents. When such "sincere, personal opposition becomes enacted law and public policy, the necessary consequence is to put the imprimatur of the State itself on an exclusion that soon demeans or stigmatizes those whose own liberty is then denied." Obergefell, 135 S. Ct. at 2602. Such policies simply cannot endure.d. The Kentucky Religious Freedom ActKentucky Constitution § 1 broadly declares that "[a]ll men are, by nature, free and equal, and have certain inherent and inalienable rights, among which may be reckoned .. . [t]he right of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of their consciences." Kentucky Constitution § 5 gives content to this guarantee:No preference shall ever be given by law to any religious sect, society or denomination; nor to any particular creed, mode of worship or system of ecclesiastical polity; nor shall any person be compelled to attend any place of worship, to contribute to the erection or maintenance of any such place, or to the salary or support of any minister of religion; nor shall any man be compelled to send his child to any school to which he may be conscientiously opposed; and the civil rights, privileges or capacities of no person shall be taken away, or in anywise diminished or enlarged, on account of his belief or disbelief of any religious tenet, dogma or teaching. No human authority shall, in any case whatever, control or interfere with the rights of conscience.Kentucky courts have held that Kentucky Constitution § 5 does not grant more protection to religious practice than the First Amendment. Gingerich v. Commonwealth, 382 S.W.3d 835, 839-40 (Ky. 2012). Such a finding would normally permit the Court to collapse its analysis of state and federal constitutional provisions. However, the Kentucky Religious Freedom Act, patterned after the federal RFRA, subjects state free exercise challenges to heightened scrutiny:Government shall not substantially burden a person's freedom of religion. The right to act or refuse to act in a manner motivated by a sincerely held religious belief may not be substantially burdened unless the government proves by clear and convincing evidence that it has a compelling governmental interest in infringing the specific act or refusal to act and has used the least restrictive means to further that interest. A "burden" shall include indirect burdens such as withholding benefits, assessing penalties, or an exclusion from programs or access to facilities.Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 446.350.Davis again argues that the Beshear directive substantially burdens her religious freedom without serving a compelling state interest. The record in this case suggests that the burden is more slight. As the Court has already pointed out, Davis is simply being asked to signify that couples meet the legal requirements to marry. The State is not asking her to condone same-sex unions on moral or religious grounds, nor is it restricting her from engaging in a variety of religious activities. Davis remains free to practice her Apostolic Christian beliefs. She may continue to attend church twice a week, participate in Bible Study and minister to female inmates at the Rowan County Jail. She is even free to believe that marriage is a union between one man and one woman, as many Americans do. However, her religious convictions cannot excuse her from performing the duties that she took an oath to perform as Rowan County Clerk. The Court therefore concludes that Davis is unlikely to suffer a violation of her free exercise rights under Kentucky Constitution § 5.4. Public interest"[I]t is always in the public interest to prevent the violation of a party's constitutional rights." G & V Lounge, Inc. v. Mich. Liquor Control Comm'n, 23 F. 3d 1071, 1079 (6th Cir. 1994). Because Davis' "no marriage licenses" policy likely infringes upon Plaintiffs' fundamental right to marry, and because Davis herself is unlikely to suffer a violation of her free speech or free exercise rights if an injunction is issued, this fourth and final factor weighs in favor of granting Plaintiffs' Motion.V. ConclusionDistrict courts are directed to balance four factors when analyzing a motion for preliminary injunction. In this case, all four factors weigh in favor of granting the requested relief. Accordingly, for the reasons set forth herein,IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction (Doc. # 2) against Defendant Kim Davis, in her official capacity as Rowan County Clerk, is hereby granted.IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Defendant Kim Davis, in her official capacity as Rowan County Clerk, is hereby preliminarily enjoined from applying her "no marriage licenses" policy to future marriage license requests submitted by Plaintiffs. G:\DATA\Opinions\Ashland\15-44 MOO Granting Mtn for Preliminary Injunction.wpd[1] This task requires relatively few resources, at least in Rowan County. (Doc. # 26 at 24-30). Davis testified that her Office issued 212 marriage licenses in 2014. Marriage licenses cost $35.50. (Id.). Of that sum, the Office retains $21.17, and remits the remaining $14.33 to the State. (Id.). Thus, Rowan County Clerk's Office made about $4,500, or roughly 0.1% of its annual budget, from issuing marriage licenses in 2014. (Id.). Davis also estimated that the task of issuing marriage licenses occupies one hour of one deputy clerk's time per week. (Id.).[2] A couple is "legally qualified" to marry if both individuals are over the age of eighteen, mentally competent, unrelated to each other and currently unmarried. See Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 402.010, 402.020(a)-(d), (f).[3] Only one aspect of the form has changed since Obergefell-whereas the marriage applicants were once referred to as "Bride" and "Groom," they are now identified as "First Party" and "Second Party."[4] In their reply brief, Plaintiffs argued that the Court need not decide whether Davis is a state actor or municipal policymaker in order to grant injunctive relief. The Court's preliminary finding on this matter does not necessarily foreclose Plaintiffs from arguing the "municipal policymaker" theory in the future. The Court simply seeks to ensure that it is indeed able to grant injunctive relief against Kim Davis in her official capacity.[5] The median household income in Rowan County is $35,236 and 28.6% of the population lives below the poverty line. See United States Census Bureau, Rowan County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau. For the entire state of Kentucky, the median household income is $43,036 and 18.8% of the population lives below the poverty line. Id.[6] See also Jack Brammer, 57 County Clerks Ask Governor for Special Session on Same-Sex Marriage Licenses, The Lexington Herald Leader (July 8, 2015), 57 Kentucky county clerks ask governor for special session on same-sex marriage licenses; Terry DeMio, Boone, Ky. Clerks Want Same-Sex License Law, Cincinnati Enquirer (July 9, 2015), Page on cincinnati.com ession-address-sex-marriage-issues-clerks/29919103/.[7] Even if the Court were inclined to accept Davis' interpretation of the term "absence," it would have doubts about the practicality of this approach. Judge Blevins is the highest elected official in Rowan County. (Doc. # 26 at 7). He is frequently out of the office on official business. (Id.). While Judge Blevins would not have to process a large number of marriage requests, he might not be regularly available for couples seeking licenses. Thus, the Court would be concerned about Judge Blevins' ability to perform this function as efficiently as Davis and her six deputy clerks.[8] Although it is not the focus of this opinion, Plaintiffs have already asserted such an Establishment Clause claim against Kim Davis in her official capacity. (Doc. # 1 at 13).[9] Davis further develops this argument in her own Motion for Preliminary Injunction (Doc. # 39) against Governor Beshear and KDLA Librarian Wayne Onkst. That Motion is not yet ripe for review.[10] In Smith, the U.S. Supreme Court indicated that free exercise claims involving neutral and generally applicable laws may still be subject to heightened scrutiny if asserted alongside another constitutional right. If the Court concludes that the Beshear directive is neutral and generally applicable, Davis argues that strict scrutiny must still apply because her free exercise claim is coupled with a free speech claim. (Doc. # 29 at 23). However, this proposal fails because Davis' free speech rights are qualified by virtue of her public employment. See Draper v. Logan Cnty. Pub. Library, 403 F. Supp. 2d 608, 621-22 (W.D. Ky. 2005) (applying the Pickering balancing test to a combined free exercise and free speech claim asserted by a public employee). The Court will discuss this concept further in the next section.[11] Davis refers to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky's decisions in Bourke v. Beshear, 996 F. Supp. 2d 542, 545 (W.D. Ky. 2014), and Love v. Beshear, 989 F. Supp. 2d 536, 539 (W.D. Ky. 2014). Judge John Heyburn held that Kentucky's constitutional and statutory prohibitions on same-sex marriages "violate[] the United States Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law, even under the most deferential standard of review." Bourke, 996 F. Supp. 2d at 544. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals consolidated these cases with several similar matters originating from Ohio, Michigan and Tennessee and reversed them. DeBoer v. Snyder, 772 F.3d 388 (6th Cir. 2014). The Supreme Court of the United States then granted certiorari on these cases, now collectively known asObergefell v. Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 1039 (2015).[12] Most free speech cases involving public employees center on compelled silence rather than compelled speech. See, e.g., Connick, 461 U.S. at 147-48 (focusing on a district attorney's claim that she was fired in retaliation for exercising her free speech rights). "[I]n the context of protected speech, the difference is without constitutional significance, for the First Amendment guarantees `freedom of speech,' a term necessarily comprising the decision of both what to say and what not to say." Riley v. Nat'l Fed'n of the Blind of N.C., Inc., 487 U.S. 781, 796-97.

Haskell has a diverse range of use commercially, from aerospace and defense, to finance, to web startups, hardware design firms and a lawnmower manufacturer. This page collects resources on the industrial use of Haskell.The main user conference for industrial Haskell use is CUFP - the Commercial Users of Functional Programming Workshop.The Industrial Haskell Group supports commercial users.There is a well-maintained (as of 2018) github repository that collects information on companies using Haskell.The commercial Haskell group is a special interest group for companies and individuals interested in commercial usage of Haskell.The Reddit page 72 would-be commercial Haskell users: what Haskell success stories we need to see has several stories of commercial Haskell users.1 Haskell in IndustryMany companies have used Haskell for a range of projects, including:ABN AMRO Amsterdam, The NetherlandsABN AMRO is an international bank headquartered in Amsterdam. For its investment banking activities it needs to measure the counterparty risk on portfolios of financial derivatives.ABN AMRO's CUFP talk.Aetion Technologies LLC, Columbus, OhioAetion was a defense contractor in operation from 1999 to 2011, whose applications use artificial intelligence. Rapidly changing priorities make it important to minimize the code impact of changes, which suits Haskell well. Aetion developed three main projects in Haskell, all successful. Haskell's concise code was perhaps most important for rewriting: it made it practicable to throw away old code occasionally. DSELs allowed the AI to be specified very declaratively.Aetion's CUFP talk.Alcatel-LucentA consortium of groups, including Alcatel-Lucent, have used Haskell to prototype narrowband software radio systems, running in (soft) real-time.Alcatel-Lucent's CUFP talkAllston TradingHeadquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Allston Trading, LLC is a premier high frequency market maker in over 40 financial exchanges, in 20 countries, and in nearly every conceivable product class. Allston makes some use of Haskell for their trading infrastructure.Alpha Heavy IndustriesAlpha Heavy Industries is an alternative asset manager dedicated to producing superior returns through quantitative methods. They use Haskell as their primary implementation language.Amgen Thousand Oaks, CaliforniaAmgen is a human therapeutics company in the biotechnology industry. Amgen pioneered the development of novel products based on advances in recombinant DNA and molecular biology and launched the biotechnology industry’s first blockbuster medicines. Amgen uses Haskell;To rapidly build software to implement mathematical models and other complex, mathematically oriented applicationsProvide a more mathematically rigorous validation of softwareTo break developers out of their software development rut by giving them a new way to think about software.Amgen's CUFP talk.Ansemond LLC"Find It! Keep It! is a Mac Web Browser that lets you keep the pages you visit in a database. A list of these pages is shown in the 'database view'. "Antiope Fair Haven, New JerseyAntiope Associates provides custom solutions for wireless communication and networking problems. Our team has expertise in all aspects of wireless system design, from the physical and protocol layers to complex networked applications. Antiope Associates relies on a number of advanced techniques to ensure that the communication systems we design are reliable and free from error. We use custom simulation tools developed in Haskell, to model our hardware designs..Antiope's CUFP talk.Antiope Fair Haven, New JerseyAntiope Associates provides custom solutions for wireless communication and networking problems. Our team has expertise in all aspects of wireless system design, from the physical and protocol layers to complex networked applications. Antiope Associates relies on a number of advanced techniques to ensure that the communication systems we design are reliable and free from error. We use custom simulation tools developed in Haskell, to model our hardware designs..Antiope's CUFP talk.Applicative, Sydney (Australia)Applicative has created a Haskell IDE for macOS called "Haskell for Mac". It offers playgrounds to interactively work with Haskell code right next to the source files: you can draw and preview images, animations, HTML pages and more. You can also build full-fledged applications with it.AT&THaskell is being used in the Network Security division to automate processing of internet abuse complaints. Haskell has allowed us to easily meet very tight deadlines with reliable results.Bank of America Merril LynchHaskell is being used for backend data transformation and loading.Barclays Capital Quantitative Analytics GroupBarclays Capital's Quantitative Analytics group is using Haskell to develop an embedded domain-specific functional language (called FPF) which is used to specify exotic equity derivatives. These derivatives, which are naturally best described in terms of mathematical functions, and constructed compositionally, map well to being expressed in an embedded functional language. This language is now regularly being used by people who had no previous functional language experience.Simon Frankau et al's JFP paper on their use of HaskellRead their 2013 job advertisementBAE SystemsAs part of the SAFE project, BAE has built a collection of compilers, interpreters, simulators, and EDSLs almost entirely in Haskell.CUFP 2013 talkBazQux ReaderBazQux Reader is a commercial RSS reader. Its feeds and comments crawler and a part of web-server are implemented in Haskell.BetterBetter, formerly known as Erudify, is a learning company built around the mission of making people better. We are an unusual mix of a software company, a consulting firm, and a creative agency. This tight integration enables us to deliver innovative, high-quality courses to our customers. Founded in 2012, Better is based in Zurich, Switzerland and New York, USA. Better is fully invested in Haskell; Most parts of our back-end system (web-servers and learning logic) are written in Haskell. Haskell is also used in most parts of our front-end system.bCODE Pty Ltd Sydney AustraliabCode Pty Ltd is a small venture capital-funded startup using Ocaml and a bit of Haskell in Sydney Australia.Bdellium Hawaii, United StatesBdellium develops software systems that enable companies in the financial industry to deliver new customer services that grow their business. Bdellium uses Haskell for heavy lifting analysis in back end infrastructure.Betterteam RemoteBetterteam is a recruitment platform for small businesses and growing teams. It allows employers to post their jobs to hundreds of job boards, manage candidates, and add a careers section to their website. Betterteam's backend applications are 100% Haskell and the frontend web application is written in PureScript.Bluespec, Inc. Waltham, MassachusettsDeveloping a modern integrated circuit (ASIC or FPGA) is an enormously expensive process involving specification, modeling (to choose and fix the architecture), design (to describe what will become silicon) and verification (to ensure that it meets the specs), all before actually committing anything to silicon (where the cost of a failure can be tens of millions of dollars). Bluespec, Inc. is a three year-old company that provides language facilities, methodologies, and tools for this purpose, within the framework of the IEEE standard languages SystemVerilog and SystemC, but borrowing ideas heavily from Term Rewriting Systems and functional programming languages like Haskell. In this talk, after a brief technical overview to set the context, we will describe our tactics and strategies, and the challenges we face, in introducing declarative programming ideas into this field, both externally (convincing customers about the value of these ideas) and internally (using Haskell for our tool implementation).Bluespec's CUFP talk.BumpBump use a Haskell-based server, Angel, for process supervisor for all their backend systems, and for other infrastructure tasks.Haskell at BumpCapital IQWe have been using functional programming here at S&P Capital IQ in Scala, Haskell, and our homegrown reporting language Ermine, since 2008 for financial analytics.Capital IQ's CUFP 2013 talkChordifyChordify is a free online music service that transforms music, from YouTube, Deezer, SoundCloud or uploaded files, into chords. There's an ICFP experience report explaining how Haskell is used for this: José Pedro Magalhães and W. Bas de Haas. Functional Modelling of Musical Harmony: an Experience Report. In Proceedings of the 16th ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Functional Programming (ICFP'11), pp. 156–162, ACM, 2011.Circos Brand Karma SingaporeBrand Karma provides services to brand owners to measure online sentiments towards their brands. Haskell is used in building parts of the product, specifically for back-end job scheduling and brand matching.CircuitHubCircuitHub aims to be the AWS for manufacturing, enabling hardware companies and makers to instantly quote designs and scale from prototype to production. We are also proud to host a large collection of open hardware designs. CircuitHub uses Haskell for our core services and algorithms.Credit Suisse Global Modeling and Analytics Group London, UK; New York City, New YorkGMAG, the quantitative modeling group at Credit Suisse, has been using Haskell for various projects since the beginning of 2006, with the twin aims of improving the productivity of modelers and making it easier for other people within the bank to use GMAG models. Current projects include: Further work on tools for checking, manipulating and transforming spreadsheets; a domain-specific language embedded in Haskell for implementing reusable components that can be compiled into various target forms (see the video presentation: Paradise, a DSEL for Derivatives Pricing).Credit Suisse's CUFP talk.Cryptact Tokyo, JapanCryptact provides a platform for cryptocurrency investors based on our expertise in finance and technology, and is exploring the potential of Haskell in our backend services.DetexifyDetexify is an online handwriting recognition system, whose backend is written in Haskell.FynderFynder is an online booking platform. We use Haskell and clojurescript, all stitched together with nixosSee more in their original job posting.Deutsche Bank Equity Proprietary Trading, Directional Credit TradingThe Directional Credit Trading group used Haskell as the primary implementation language for its software infrastructure.Deutsche Bank's CUFP talk.Dr. Peter & Alexander Thiemann GbRDr. Peter & Alexander Thiemann GbR is a software consultancy with strong focus on functional development with Haskell and hardware-software systems.Eaton Cleveland, OhioDesign and verification of hydraulic hybrid vehicle systemsEaton's CUFP talkEaton's experiences using a Haskell DSL[Ericsson AB]Ericsson uses Haskell for the implementation of Feldspar, an EDSL for digital signal processing algorithms.Ericsson's Feldspar compilerextensiblNew Zealand-based company. Provides a variety of software development, consulting, operational support services worldwide. Both Haskell and Ur/Web are actively used for commercial projects.FacebookFacebook uses some Haskell internally for tools. lex-pass is a tool for programmatically manipulating a PHP code base via Haskell.Facebook's CUFP talkFacebook's HaXL system is open sourceFactis ResearchFactis research, located in Freiburg, Germany, co-develops Checkpad, a mobile electronic health record. Our client software runs under iOS, web browsers and Windows. The server components are implemented in 95% in Haskell.fortytools gmbhLocated in Hamburg, Germany, we are developing web-based productivity tools for invoicing, customer management, resource scheduling and time tracking. While using Javascript for building rich frontend application in the browser, we use Haskell to implement the REST backends. Additionally, we do occasional project/client work as well.Oh, and of course we develop and maintain Hayoo! :)Functor AB, Stockholm, SwedenFunctor AB offers new tools for ground-breaking static analysis with pre-test case generation of programs to eliminate defects and bugs in software very early in development. Functor collaborates with the JET fusion reactor run by EFDA CCFE. JET is currently the largest reactor in the world of its kind. At Functor, almost all development is done in Haskell but also to some extent also C and Scala.See more in the Functor AB job advertisementFunktionale Programmierung Dr. Heinrich Hördegen, Munich, GermanyWe develop software prototypes according to the Pareto principle: After spending only 20 percent of budget, we aim to provide already 80 percent of the software's functionality. We can realize this by constructing a 2080-software-prototype that we can further develop into a full-fledged solution...Galois, Inc Portland, OregonGalois designs and develops high confidence software for critical applications. Our innovative approach to software development provides high levels of assurance, yet its scalability enables us to address the most complex problems. We have successfully engineered projects under contract for corporations and government clients in the demanding application areas of security, information assurance and cryptography.Galois' 2007 CUFP talkGalois' 2011 CUFP talkGalois' retrospective on 10 years of industrial Haskell useGoogleHaskell is used on a small number of internal projects in Google, for internal IT infrastructure support, and the open-source Ganeti project. Ganeti is a tool for managing clusters of virtual servers built on top of Xen and KVM.Google's ICFP 2010 experience report on HaskellVideo from ICFP Project Ganeti at GoogleGlydeGlyde uses OCaml and Haskell for a few projects. Glyde uses Haskell for our client-side template source-to-source translator, which converts HAML-like view templates into JS code.Group CommerceGroup Commerce uses Haskell to drive the main component of their advertising infrastructure: a Snap Framework based web server. Haskell enabled quicker development, higher reliability, and better maintainability than other languages, without having to sacrifice performance.HasuraHasura is a BaaS/PaaS focussed on keeping things DRY and letting you write custom code with the tools you love. We're building a micro-service platform christened Instant realtime GraphQL on Postgres (alpha release scheduled in summer 2015), and we used Haskell as the core programming language to build it.Humane SoftwareWe develop enterprise systems with de-coupled, asynchronous Haskell backends and Javascript UIs.For our current customer, an Internet connectivity provider, we wrote a solution for monitoring multiple remote machines and analyzing gigabytes of traffic samples. Haskell proved an excellent tool for the job. We were able to replace legacy systems in a granular, piece-by-piece manner, while delivering new features.Hustler Turf Equipment Hesston, KansasDesigns, builds, and sells lawn mowers. We use quite a bit of Haskell, especially as a "glue language" for tying together data from different manufacturing-related systems. We also use it for some web apps that are deployed to our dealer network. There are also some uses for it doing sysadmin automation, such as adding/removing people from LDAP servers and the likeiba Consulting Gesellschaft - Intelligent business architecture for you. Leipzig, Germanyiba CG develops software for large companies:risk analysis and reporting solution for power supply company;contract management, assert management, booking and budgeting software for one of the worldwide leading accounting firm.IMVU, IncIMVU, Inc. is a social entertainment company connecting users through 3D avatar-based experiences. See the blog article What it's like to use HaskellInformatik Consulting Systems AGICS AG developed a simulation and testing tool which based on a DSL (Domain Specific Language). The DSL is used for the description of architecture and behavior of distributed system components (event/message based, reactive). The compiler was written in Haskell (with target language Ada). The test system is used in some industrial projects.IntelIntel has developed a Haskell compiler as part of their research on multicore parallelism at scale.Read the Intel Research paper on compilerIVU Traffic Technologies AGThe rostering group at IVU Traffic Technologies AG has been using Haskell to check rosters for compliance with EC regulations. Our implementation is based on an embedded DSL to combine the regulation’s single rules into a solver that not only decides on instances but, in the case of a faulty roster, finds an interpretation of the roster that is “favorable” in the sense that the error messages it entails are “helpful” in leading the dispatcher to the resolution of the issue at hand. The solver is both reliable (due to strong static typing and referential transparency — we have not experienced a failure in three years) and efficient (due to constraint propagation, a custom search strategy, and lazy evaluation). Our EC 561/2006 component is part of the IVU.crew software suite and as such is in wide-spread use all over Europe, both in planning and dispatch. So the next time you enter a regional bus, chances are that the driver’s roster was checked by Haskell.JanRainJanRain uses Haskell for network and web software. Read more about Haskell at JanRain and in their tech talk at Galois. JanRain's "Capture" user API product is built on Haskell's Snap webframework.See Janrain's technical talk about their use of SnapJoyride LaboratoriesJoyride Laboratories is an independent game development studio, founded in 2009 by Florian Hofer and Sönke Hahn. Their first game, "Nikki and the Robots" was released in 2011.Keera StudiosKeera Studios Ltd is a European game development studio that develops mobile, desktop and web apps.Games: The mobile game Magic Cookies! was written in Haskell and released in 2015 for Androidand 2017 for iOS. Other games include Haskanoid, also available for Android, and a multi-platform Graphic Adventure library and engine with Android and iOS support and an IDE.Reactive Programming and GUIs: Keera Studios is also the maintainer of Keera Hails, an Open-Source reactive rapid application development framework with backends for Android and iOS's native GUI toolkits, Web DOM via GHCJS, Gtk+, Wx and Qt. With Hails, it is possible to write Haskell applications with UIs that work both for mobile and desktop.Keera Studios' Gale IDE (a game IDE), Keera Posture (a open-source posture monitor using the webcam) and other mobile apps are also developed using Hails. See the Facebook page for details on iOS & Android games and apps and ongoing development.kinoubiAt kinoubi we believe in high quality code, that just works. We use software quality metrics to achieve an exceptional level of quality. Our main programming language is Haskell because of its elegance and philosophy of functional purity. It is what we believe in, it is our name: 'kinoubi' means 'functional elegance' in Japanese. Our code is produced for a range of different domains including data mining and machine learning.Lifted Software UG, Berlin, GermanyLifted has developed a macOS application "JSON Class Generator" that allows the user to specify data types (classes/enums) in a visual editor. These models can then be exported to Objective-C source code, which is capable of serializing/deserializing the instances to/from JSON. When parsing JSON, the structures are validated against the specification and errors are reported. The generated code comes with handy implementations for methods like -description, -isEqual:, -copy, -hash and more, that are boring to write and tedious to keep updated by hand.LinkqloLinkqlo Inc is a Palo Alto-based technology startup that is building a pioneering mobile community to connect people with better fitting clothes. We’re solving an industry-wide pain point for both consumers and fashion brands in retail shopping, sizing and fitting, just like Paypal took on the online payment challenge in 1999. We started deploying Haskell as the backend language recently in August 2015, in an effort to eventually replace all PHP endpoint APIs with Haskell ones.Linkqlo's iOS app from App StoreLinspireLinspire, Inc. has used functional programming since its inception in 2001, beginning with extensive use of O'Caml, with a steady shift to Haskell as its implementations and libraries have matured. Hardware detection, software packaging and CGI web page generation are all areas where we have used functional programming extensively. Haskell's feature set lets us replace much of our use of little languages (e.g., bash or awk) and two-level languages (C or C++ bound to an interpreted language), allowing for faster development, better code sharing and ultimately faster implementations. Above all, we value static type checking for minimizing runtime errors in applications that run in unknown environments and for wrapping legacy programs in strongly typed functions to ensure that we pass valid arguments.Linspire's CUFP talkLinspire's experience report on using functional programming to manage a Linux distributionLumiGuideLumiGuide is an innovative software company which specialises in smart parking and guidance systems for both bicycles and cars. LumiGuide developed and installed the P-route Bicycle system for the City of Utrecht in 2015. This system guides cyclists via digital, street-level displays to available parking space in a number of parking facilities in the city centre. Utrecht is the first city in the world that has a system like this. The detection technology is based on optical sensors which are independent of the bicycle stands. The sensors are mounted to the ceiling in indoor facilities and mounted to poles in outdoor facilities. Every minute, one sensor detects 40 to 60 parking places at the same time in either single- or two-tier bicycle stands as well as (stand-less) free parking places. Bicycles that exceed the maximum parking duration ('orphaned' bicycles) are also detected and the system will automatically keep a log of pictures of the orphaned bicycle which can be used as evidence when the orphaned bicycle is removed by a facility operator. The usage of the facility can be monitored with web-based control software. LumiGuide also develops the indoor and outdoor digital displays which can be controlled using the web-based control software. We are extensively using Haskell and NixOS.MicrosoftMicrosoft uses Haskell for its production serialization system, Bond. Bond is broadly used at Microsoft in high scale services. Microsoft Research has, separately, been a key sponsor of Haskell development since the late 1990s.MITREMITRE uses Haskell for, amongst other things, the analysis of cryptographic protocols.The New York TimesA team at the New York Times used Haskell's parallel array library to process images from 2013 New York Fashion Week. Haskell was chosen based on its fast numerical arrays packages, and ease of parallelization.Model analysisHaskell in the NewsroomNICTANICTA has used Haskell as part of a project to verify the L4 microkernel.Read the Dr. Dobbs article on using Haskell and formal methods to verify a kernelNRAONRAO has used Haskell to implement the core science algorithms for the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) Dynamic Scheduling System (DSS).Source code available on GitHub.NS Solutions(NSSOL) Tokyo, JapanNS Solutions has employed Haskell since 2008 to develop its software packages including "BancMeasure", a mark-to-market accounting software package for financial institutions, "BancMeasure for IFRS" and "Mamecif", a data analysis package. "BancMeasure" and "Mamecif" are registered trademarks of NS Solutions Corporation in JAPAN.NVIDIAAt NVIDIA, we have a handful of in-house tools that are written in HaskellOpenomyOpenomy's API v2.0 is developed in Haskell, using the HAppS web platform.OblomovOblomov Systems is a one-person software company based in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Founded in 2009, Oblomov has since then been working on a number of Haskell-related projects. The main focus lies on web-applications and (web-based) editors. Haskell has turned out to be extremely useful for implementing web servers that communicate with JavaScript clients or iPhone apps.Oblomov's HCAR submission.Patch-Tag: hosting for DarcsNeed somewhere to put your Darcs code? Try us. Patch-Tag is built with happstack, the continuation of the project formerly known as HAppS.Peerium, Inc Cambridge, MassachusettsAt Peerium, we're striving to bring a new level of quality and efficiency to online communication and collaboration within virtual communities, social networks, and business environments. We believe that a new environment that supports the effortless sharing of both information and software will enable a level of online cooperation far beyond current Web-based technologies -- modern programming techniques will enable the creation of more robust and more powerful programs within these environments. To this end, we're building a new software platform for direct, real-time communication and collaboration within graphically rich environments. Peerium is located in the heart of Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts.Picus Security Ankara, TurkeyThere are lots of IT security products currently used in enterprises to protect customers from cyber threats. How do we ensure about their effectiveness? At this point we have an idea. An idea that we believe will change the entire ecosystem of security operations which we call 'Verified Security' by continuously assessing security controls and remediating them. At Picus Security, we're extensively using Haskell from the starting point of the project. Our backend completely written in Haskell which consists of REST API, distributed haskell nodes and attacker modules.PlanIt9PlanIt9 is a Yesod-based web application for defining, planning, scheduling and tracking tasks. It's designed to be fast, simple, collaborative and cost effective. We're currently signing up users for our beta program.PlumlifePlum is replacing light switches with Lightpads; a capacitive touch dimmer that is internet connected, clusters with other Lightpads in the home for group control... Haskell composes our cloud services and Erlang is used for the embedded software in the Lightpads (hot-code reloading, easy node clustering, etc...). ... We use Haskell extensively for all of our cloud services software at Plumlife ... Amazing language and ecosystem.Qualcomm, IncQualcomm uses Haskell to generate Lua bindings to the BREW platformSQreamAt SQream, we use Haskell for a large part of our code. We use Haskell for the compiler, which takes SQL statements and turns them into low level instructions for the high performance CUDA runtime. We also use Haskell for rapid prototyping and for many auxiliary utilities.Parallel Scientific, Boulder, Colorado.We are using Haskell to develop an ultra-scalable high-availability resource management system for big clusters (millions of nodes). A key element of the design is to provide scalable and reliable mechanisms for communicating failures and coordinating recovery transitions.See Parallel Scientific's CUFP talkRenaissaince Computing Institute, Chapel Hill, North CarolinaThe Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI), a multi-institutional organization, brings together multidisciplinary experts and advanced technological capabilities to address pressing research issues and to find solutions to complex problems that affect the quality of life in North Carolina, our nation and the world. Research scientists at RENCI have used Haskell for a number of projects, including The Big Board.RENCI's CUFP talk.ruevoisine.frThis rental ads website uses Haskell both on client and server.Web server is written in Erlang (Yaws) however app is nearly all Haskell.Js code is produced, minified and bundled from Haskell.SamplecountSamplecount develops mobile, location-aware sound and music applications. They are currently using Haskell for prototyping their server-side soundscape streaming components and as a cross-platform build tool for their mobile applications and frameworks.Sankel Software Albuquerque, New MexicoSankel Software has been using Haskell since 2002 for both prototyping and deployment for technologies ranging from CAD/CAM to gaming and computer animation. We specialize in the development of user-friendly, large, long-term applications that solve difficult and conceptually intricate problems.ScriveScrive is a service for e-signing tenders, contracts, and other documents. We help our clients close deals faster, decrease their administrative burden, and improve their customers’ experience.Siemens Convergence Creators GmbH AustriaSiemens CVC uses Haskell since a few years in the space domain. Starting with small tools like data conversion and automation of scripting tasks over installers we use Haskell currently for Space Protocol Proxies to allow connect different space systems (e.g. Cortex to NCTRS or SLE to NCTRS with COP-1 handling). The main use is currently a Simulator implemented in Haskell which handles parts of NCTRS (or SSB), the ground station and parts of the satellite to be able to make closed-loop tests for the SCOS-2000 based Mission Control System. It is in use for testing and debugging of the Mission Control System and for checking implementation of new features. It has served for various, currently active missions and also is in use for some missions to come.Signali Portland, OregonSignali Corp is a new custom hardware design company. Our chief products are custom IP cores targeted for embedded DSP and cryptographic applications. Our specialty is the design and implementation of computationally intensive, complex algorithms. The interfaces to each core are modular and can be very efficiently modified for your specific application. System-level integration and validation is crucial and is the majority of investment in a product.Soostone New York, NYSoostone is an advanced analytics technology provider specializing in algorithmic optimization opportunities in marketing, pricing, advertising, sales and product management. As the preferred language, Haskell is used intensively at Soostone in numerous applications including customized machine learning algorithms, models/simulations, real-time decision-making engines, DSL/EDSLs, web applications and high volume APIs.Standard CharteredStandard Chartered has a large group using Haskell for all aspects of its wholesale banking business.Stack BuildersStack Builders is a software consultancy based in New York, with its largest office in Quito, Ecuador. They build web, mobile and real-time applications for clients in industries including the automotive industry, finance, and social media and marketing. They have assisted clients in multiple industries with both legacy and greenfield projects in Haskell.Starling Software Tokyo, JapanStarling Software are developing a commercial automated options trading system in Haskell, and are migrating other parts of their software suite to Haskell.Starling Software's experience building real time trading systems in HaskellSensor Sense Nijmegen, The NetherlandsSensor Sense is offering high technology systems for gas measurements in the ppbv down to pptvrange. We use Haskell for the embedded control software of our trace gas detectors.For more information see Senor Sense's position advertisementSilk Amsterdam, The NetherlandsSilk investigates and develops new ways of creating and consuming online content. Their Silkapplication makes it easy to filter and visualize large amounts of information.Silk's blog on why they use HaskellA review of SilkSkedge Mehttp://skedge.me is an online scheduling platform that allows businesses to completely automate the process of making appointments, such as customer visits, job interviews, and tutoring sessions.See more in their CUFP talkSee their 2014 job advertisementSuite SolutionsSuite Solutions provides products and solutions in support of large sets of technical documentation based on DITA for general technical documentation, and other more specialized XML and SGML formats for specific industries such as the aerospace industry. Many of Suite Solutions' products and solutions, such as the featured products SuiteHelp and SuiteShare, are written in Haskell.SumAll New York, New YorkSumAll aggregates various public streams of data such as various social network data into useful analytics, reports and insights. We are in process of rewriting our entire data-processing backend in Haskell. What attracted us to the language is its disciplined and uncompromising approach to solving hard problems and managing complexity. We truly believe that the language and ecosystem is ready for prime time and will give us competitive advantage in the industry.Symbiont.io New York, NYSymbiont is a New York-based startup that is using smart contracts and blockchain technology to radically improve financial market back-office infrastructure. Haskell is currently used at Symbiont for its network management tooling, and there are plans to expand the use of the language to transaction processing and other backend services.Tabula.comTabula is a privately held fabless semiconductor company developing 3-D Programmable Logic Devices. Haskell is used for internal compiler toolchains related to hardware design.TramCloud GmbHTramCloud builds measurement devices and analytics platforms for tram operators. Most software is written in Haskell.Tsuru Capital Tokyo, JapanTsuru Capital is operating an automated options trading system written in Haskell.Tsuru Capital's HCAR submissionTupil Utrecht, The NetherlandsTupil is a Dutch company that built software for clients, written in Haskell. Tupil used Haskell for the speed in development and resulting software quality. The company is founded by Chris Eidhof and Eelco Lempsink. Currently they build iPhone/iPad applications in Objective-C.Tupil's experience building commercial web apps in HaskellUffizio GmbH SwitzerlandUffizio is a one-person company in Switzerland that uses Haskell for building correct, maintainable and fast e-commerce web applications as well as internal tools.Wagon San Francisco, CaliforniaWagon is a modern SQL editor: a better way for analysts and engineers to write queries, visualize results, and share data & charts.We’re a team of functional programmers writing apps and services in Haskell (and Javascript). We love to teach and learn functional programming; our team is humble, hard working, and fun. Read our engineering blog to learn more about our stack, how we combine Haskell, React, and Electron, and what it’s like working at a Haskell-powered startup.We're hiring Haskell engineers based in San Francisco, learn more about the roles and our team!Xoken Labs Bangalore, IndiaXoken Labs is building a decentralized platform based on blockchain technology.Xoken Labs is a technology company committed to revolutionize financial services via secure distributed P2P solutions, effectively addressing challenges pertaining to trade, trust & ownership. The Xoken project aims to create a next-gen decentralized smart economy. We believe in distributed, innovative teams and love to push the frontiers of distributed ledger technology.We're hiring Haskellers!https://www.xoken.org/careers/If you're using Haskell commercially, please add your details here.2 The Industrial Haskell GroupThe Industrial Haskell Group (IHG) is an organisation to support the needs of commercial users of the Haskell programming language.3 Jobs and recruitmentHaskell jobs on the HaskellWiki.Jobs at Haskellers.com.4 ConsultantsConsultants5 Commercial Users of Functional Programming WorkshopCommercial Users of Functional ProgrammingThe goal of CUFP is to build a community for users of functional programming languages and technology, be they using functional languages in their professional lives, in an open source project (other than implementation of functional languages), as a hobby, or any combination thereof. In short: anyone who uses functional programming as a means, but not an end.