Supreme Court rejects bid to overturn same-sex marriage rights

The Supreme Court declined to revisit its landmark ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. Without offering any explanation, the justices refused to hear an appeal brought by Kim Davis, the former Kentucky county clerk who stopped issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the Court’s 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges.

Davis sought to overturn a lower-court order requiring her to pay $360,000 in damages and attorney’s fees to one of the couples she denied a license. Her legal team repeatedly pointed to statements made by Justice Clarence Thomas, who has argued that the same-sex marriage ruling should be eliminated.

Thomas was one of four dissenters in the Obergefell decision. Two of the other dissenters—Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito—remain on the Court. Roberts has not spoken publicly on the issue since his dissent in 2015. Alito has continued to voice criticism of the ruling, though he recently clarified that he was not calling for it to be overturned.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who joined the Court after the 2015 decision, has said that the Court can and should correct past errors in certain cases, as it did when it ended the constitutional right to abortion in 2022. However, she has also indicated that same-sex marriage may be treated differently, noting that many couples have relied on the decision to build families and make life decisions.

Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, applauded the Court’s refusal to intervene, stating that the decision confirms that disregarding others’ constitutional rights can lead to consequences.

Davis became a national figure when she denied marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Rowan County, Kentucky, claiming that doing so violated her religious beliefs. She ignored court orders until a federal judge jailed her for contempt in September 2015. She was released after her staff issued the licenses without her name on them. The Kentucky legislature later changed the law so that marriage licenses no longer include the names of county clerks. Davis went on to lose her re-election campaign in 2018.