The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a case that asked it to overturn its landmark 2015 decision legalizing same-sex marriage across the country.
The appeal came from Kim Davis, a former Kentucky court clerk who made headlines in 2015 when she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges. Davis was ordered by a lower court to pay $360,000 in damages and legal fees to a couple she had denied a license.
Her lawyers argued the ruling on same-sex marriage should be overturned, echoing comments made by Justice Clarence Thomas, the only sitting justice who has called for the 2015 decision to be reversed.
Thomas was one of four justices who dissented back then, along with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito. While Roberts has stayed quiet on the issue, Alito has criticized the ruling but said recently he doesn’t believe it should be undone.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who joined the court after 2015, has said the court can correct past mistakes, as it did when it ended the constitutional right to abortion in 2022. But she also noted that same-sex marriage may be different since many couples have built their lives and families based on that ruling.
Kim Davis became a national figure when she refused to follow the Supreme Court’s decision, citing her religious beliefs. She was briefly jailed in 2015 for defying court orders but was released after her staff issued licenses without her name. Kentucky lawmakers later passed a law removing clerks’ names from marriage licenses statewide.
