US Supreme Court Urged to Revisit 2015 Ruling Legalising Same-Sex Marriage
In her latest appeal to the Supreme Court, Kim Davis is challenging the $100,000 jury verdict against her.
The US Supreme Court had legalised same-sex marriage in 2015 through its landmark ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges. Now, nearly ten years after that historic judgement, the country’s apex court is being urged to re-examine the decision. Kim Davis, a former county clerk from Kentucky, has filed a petition requesting the Court to grant her protection from personal liability under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, according to ABC.
Davis shot to national prominence in 2015 when she spent six days in jail for refusing to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples, citing her religious convictions. At that time, she was the sole official authorised under Kentucky law to issue marriage licences in Rowan County. When she denied a marriage licence to David Ermold and David Moore, a lower court ordered her to pay $100,000 in damages for violating their constitutional rights.
In her recent petition to the Supreme Court, Davis is not only disputing the $100,000 jury award but is also seeking $260,000 towards emotional distress and legal fees. Her pleas had earlier been dismissed by lower courts. A federal appeals court panel this year ruled against her, stating that the former clerk “cannot invoke the First Amendment as a defence because she is being held liable for state action, which the First Amendment does not protect.”
It remains unclear whether the Supreme Court will take up the matter. The judges are expected to decide on the petition during a closed-door conference at the end of September. If the Court agrees to hear the case, oral arguments could be held in spring 2026, with the verdict likely by June-end.
“I’m hopeful we will secure justice for Kim Davis and preserve the religious accommodation she secured for all clerks,” said Matt Staver, Davis’ lawyer, in a statement to Scripps News.
Meanwhile, William Powell, counsel for David Ermold and David Moore, expressed confidence in the existing verdict. Speaking to ABC, he said, “Not a single judge on the US Court of Appeals showed interest in Davis’ rehearing plea, and we are confident the Supreme Court will also find her arguments unworthy of further consideration.”
In her petition, Davis has further urged the Court to treat the question of same-sex marriage in the same manner as it dealt with abortion in its 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade. This marks the first challenge to the same-sex marriage ruling since its pronouncement in 2015.
