The Supreme Court has been officially asked to overturn the 2015 ruling that granted marriage equality to gay couples. ‘
Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk that lost her job after refusing to issue licenses to same-sex couples after the landmark ruling, is back as the petitioner in the first and only request to reverse course on the monumental decision. Davis was jailed for 6 days for her act of defiance. She is also currently appealing a $100,000 jury verdict for emotional damages plus $260,000 in attorneys fees.
Last month, in a petition for writ of certiorari, Davis claimed that the First Amendment, particularly freedom of religion, shields her from being held personally liable for denial of marriage licenses. She is also claiming that the court’s ruling in decision in Obergefell v Hodges that guaranteed marriage equality under the 14th Amendment, was wrong.
Her attorney, Mathew Staver, called Justice Kennedy’s majority opinion in the case “legal fiction.”
“If there ever was a case of exceptional importance,” Staver wrote, “the first individual in the Republic’s history who was jailed for following her religious convictions regarding the historic definition of marriage, this should be it.”
The lower courts, including a federal appeals court, have already found Davis’s claim without merit saying that she is being held liable for state action and thus, the First Amendment does not apply nor can it protect her.
The couple that sued Davis has said that they are confident that the SCOTUS will decide not to hear her case.
“Not a single judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals showed any interest in Davis’s rehearing petition, and we are confident the Supreme Court will likewise agree that Davis’s arguments do not merit further attention,” said William Powell, attorney for David Ermold and David Moore, the now-married Kentucky couple that sued Davis for damages, in a statement to ABC News.
A push to overturn marriage equality has picked up in 2025, as at least nine states have introduced legislation to cease issuing new marriage licenses to LGBTQ couples.
In June, the Southern Baptist Convention decided that overturning laws that they feel defy God’s mandates for marriage and family would be a top priority.
Davis believes that marriage equality should be treated the same way that the SCOTUS handled Roe v. Wade in 2022, and specifically referenced Justice Clarence Thomas’s opinion at that time that Obergefell should also be revisited.
The Justices will meet this fall to decide which cases will make the docket. If the case is chosen, it likely wouldn’t be heard until next Spring and a final ruling wouldn’t come until the end of June 2026. The court could also reject the case and allow the ruling of the lower court to stand.
