SCOTUS Won’t Touch Same-Sex Marriage, Rejects Appeal From Kentucky Clerk

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to revisit its landmark 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. This is the second time in almost five years that the high court has rejected a challenge without giving a reason. 

The court denied the appeal from Kim Davis, a former county clerk in Kentucky, whom lower courts found to have violated the constitutional rights of same-sex couples by refusing to issue them marriage licenses, citing religious beliefs. She was jailed for contempt and ordered to pay $360,000 in damages and fees. Davis tried to have the fine dropped by arguing she had First Amendment religious protection from liability.

“Like the abortion decision in Roe v. Wade, Obergefell was egregiously wrong from the start,” said Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, which represented Davis. “We will continue to work to overturn Obergefell. It is not a matter of if, but when the Supreme Court will overturn Obergefell.”

“Today, love won again,” said Kelley Robinson, president of the leftist Human Rights Campaign. “When public officials take an oath to serve communities, that promise extends to everyone – including LGBTQ+ people. The Supreme Court made clear today that refusing to respect the constitutional rights of others does not come without consequences.”

To hear a case, at least four of the nine justices must vote to grant review, a practice known as the “rule of four.”

“If ever there was a case of exceptional importance, 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,” David said in her petition to the court.

According to NPR, same-sex marriage would have still been protected on the federal level even if the Supreme Court had decided to hear Davis’s appeal. Former President Joe Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law in 2022, recognizing the legitimacy of same-sex marriages. If Obergefell were overturned, individual states could once again deny recognition to same-sex marriages.