The Supreme Court on Monday declined a request to reverse its significant ruling that permitted same-sex marriage across the country.
TL;DR
- Supreme Court declined to hear Kim Davis' appeal regarding same-sex marriage licenses.
- Kim Davis sought reversal of damages and legal fees for denying licenses.
- Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have criticized the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling.
- Human Rights Campaign commended the court's decision to uphold same-sex marriage rights.
The Supreme Court, offering no remarks, declined to hear a case brought by Kim Davis, the ex-Kentucky court clerk who declined to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples following the Court's 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges.
Davis sought to have a lower court's directive for her to pay $360,000 in damages and legal fees to a couple denied a marriage license reversed by the court.
Her legal team frequently cited the pronouncements of Justice Clarence Thomas, the sole justice on the nine-member court advocating for the annulment of the same-sex marriage decision.
In 2015, Thomas was one of four justices who disagreed. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito are the other dissenting justices currently serving on the court.
Roberts has not commented on the matter since authoring a dissenting opinion in the case. Alito has persisted in his criticism of the ruling, though he recently stated he wasn't pushing for its reversal.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett, not a member of the court in 2015, has stated that the court sometimes ought to rectify errors and reverse prior rulings, similar to its action in the 2022 case that ended a constitutional right to abortion.
Barrett has recently indicated that same-sex marriage could be viewed differently than abortion, as individuals have based their marriages and family decisions on that ruling.
Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, commended the justices for their choice to refrain from intervening. “The Supreme Court made clear today that refusing to respect the constitutional rights of others does not come without consequences,” Robinson said in a statement.
Davis gained national recognition for Rowan County in eastern Kentucky after she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, citing her religious beliefs as a reason she couldn't follow the Supreme Court's decision. She refused to issue the licenses despite court directives, leading to her imprisonment for contempt by a federal judge in September 2015.
Her staff issued the licenses for her, leading to her release, though they omitted her name from the document. Following this, the Kentucky legislature passed legislation that eliminated county clerks' names from all state marriage licenses.
Davis lost a reelection bid in 2018.