The U.S. Supreme Court has opted against revisiting the constitutional issue of same-sex marriage, following a request from Kim Davis, a former county clerk from Kentucky. Davis sought to challenge the Court’s landmark 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. In an unsigned order, the justices declined to hear her appeal without providing any explanation, a typical approach when denying such petitions.
Davis, who denied a marriage license to David Moore and David Ermold, found herself at the center of a legal dispute soon after the Obergefell ruling. Citing religious beliefs, Davis stopped issuing marriage licenses altogether, leading to lawsuits from Moore and Ermold, as well as challenges against her stance on issuing licenses in general. The consequence was a $100,000 award to the couple, a decision upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, which dismissed Davis’s argument that her decision was protected by the First Amendment. The court emphasized that Davis acted on behalf of the government when she refused to issue the license, negating her First Amendment claim. Full details of the appellate court’s decision can be found here.
The Supreme Court’s decision not to take up Davis’s challenge means that the issues surrounding the constitutional right to same-sex marriage remain settled under current interpretations. While Davis argued that Obergefell had no constitutional basis, seeking to reopen the discussion came after an extensive process that lasted several years. The full documentation and briefs leading to this recent order are available for review on the Supreme Court’s website.