The United States Supreme Court has firmly rejected an attempt to overturn its landmark decision that legalized same-sex marriage across the nation. This development represents another significant victory for LGBTQ rights in America.
The Case of Kim Davis
The justices, without providing any comment, turned away an appeal from Kim Davis, the former Kentucky court clerk who gained national attention for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples following the high court's historic 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges. Davis had been seeking to overturn a lower-court order that required her to pay $360,000 in damages and attorney's fees to a couple she had denied a marriage license.
Davis drew national attention to eastern Kentucky's Rowan County when she turned away same-sex couples, claiming her religious beliefs prevented her from complying with the Supreme Court ruling. She defiantly ignored court orders to issue the licenses until a federal judge jailed her for contempt of court in September 2015.
Legal Arguments and Judicial Positions
Her legal team repeatedly invoked the words of Justice Clarence Thomas, who remains the only justice among the nine who has openly called for erasing the same-sex marriage ruling. Thomas was among four dissenting justices in the original 2015 decision. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito are the other dissenters who remain on the court today.
While Roberts has maintained silence on the subject since writing his dissenting opinion in the case, Alito has continued to criticize the decision, though he recently stated he wasn't advocating for its overturn. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who wasn't on the court in 2015, has previously indicated that there are times when the court should correct mistakes and overturn decisions, as it did in the 2022 case that ended the constitutional right to abortion.
However, Barrett has recently suggested that same-sex marriage might belong to a different category than abortion because many people have relied on the decision when they married and started families.
Aftermath and Reactions
Davis was released from jail after her staff issued the marriage licenses on her behalf but removed her name from the form. The Kentucky legislature later enacted a law removing the names of all county clerks from state marriage licenses.
Human Rights Campaign president Kelley Robinson praised the justices' decision not to intervene in the case. "The Supreme Court made clear today that refusing to respect the constitutional rights of others does not come without consequences," Robinson stated in an official release.
This ruling reinforces the legal standing of same-sex marriage across the United States and demonstrates the court's current reluctance to revisit this landmark decision that has affected countless American families.
