The court denied the appeal of the county clerk who sought to overturn the Obergefell v. Hodges 2015 decision.
By Catholics for Catholics
The Supreme Court will not reexamine the benchmark decision that legalized same-sex unions—the resolution left untouched the protections that were conceded to couples in the Obergefell v. Hodges 2015 verdict that changed the history of the nation.
The judges declined an appeal presented by Kim Davis, a former Kentucky county clerk who was held in contempt after she said no to issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples due to her religious beliefs.
Without offering any explanation or any remarked dissents, the court refused to take up her appeal.
After refusing to give marriage licenses to same-sex couples due to her religious beliefs, Davis was held in contempt by a federal judge. She was jailed for a short period in 2015. Davis was also ordered by the court to pay $100,000 in damages to the couple, and to cover their legal fees.
“If ever a case deserved review,” Davis’s lawyers said in their appeal, “the first individual who was thrown in jail post-Obergefell for seeking accommodation for her religious beliefs should be it.” Davis’s appeal focused mostly on First Amendment issues and questions of religious protection; her lawyers also requested that the Supreme Court consider overturning the 5-4 ruling in Obergefell, or the 2015 decision that granted same-sex couples the constitutional right to marry.
It is time for a “for a course correction” on Obergefell, her lawyers argued. Despite the appeal by Davis was considered to have a slim chance of success, it had prompted a novel supposition about whether the court’s conservative majority could agree to reconsider the historic case, especially in light of the court’s 2022 decision to overturn abortion protections in Roe v. Wade.
Others noted that three of the justices that dissented from the majority in Obergefell — Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts — remain on the court.
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