The U.S. Supreme Court declined a request on Monday from a former Kentucky county official to reverse its significant 2015 decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. This decision comes over three years after its conservative majority overturned abortion rights. The court, with a 6-3 conservative majority, dismissed an appeal by Kim Davis, a former Kentucky county clerk who had refused to issue any marriage licenses following the 2015 ruling recognizing the constitutional right to same-sex marriage. Davis, an Apostolic Christian, cited religious beliefs opposing same-sex marriage as her reason for refusal.
Davis sought an appeal after lower courts rejected her argument that her First Amendment right to religious freedom protected her from liability. She was instructed to pay over $360,000 for violating the right of a same-sex couple to marry. The 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling marked a significant victory for LGBTQ rights in the U.S., affirming that states cannot prohibit same-sex marriages under the Constitution’s due process and equal protection clauses.
The 5-4 ruling in Obergefell was led by retired Justice Anthony Kennedy and four liberal justices. The dissenting conservative justices, including Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, and Samuel Alito, feared that overturning Obergefell would allow states to reintroduce bans on same-sex marriage. The Trump administration remained silent on the Davis case as the Supreme Court deliberated on the matter.
In a separate case, the court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling in 2022, which legalized abortion nationwide. This shift towards conservatism raised hopes among conservatives that Obergefell might also be reconsidered. Davis, who faced jail time for contempt of court due to her refusal to issue marriage licenses following Obergefell, appealed a civil rights lawsuit by a same-sex couple, David Ermold and David Moore, who accused her of violating their constitutional right to marry.
Despite Davis’s argument that her religious beliefs should exempt her from liability, courts ruled against her, emphasizing that as an elected official, she cannot use her rights to violate the rights of others. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed this decision, stating that Davis could not claim First Amendment protection for her actions in denying marriage licenses. The court also noted that Davis had waived her right to challenge the Obergefell ruling at the beginning of the case.
Lawyers for Davis contended that the right to same-sex marriage, like the overturned right to abortion, was based on the legal concept of “substantive due process.” The Supreme Court rejected a prior appeal by Davis in 2020, with Justices Thomas and Alito expressing concerns about the impact of the same-sex marriage ruling on religious freedom.
