Practically a decade after she turned a polarizing determine within the marriage equality combat, Kim Davis is again — and she or he’s aiming straight for the Supreme Courtroom.
In a petition filed in July 2025, Davis requested SCOTUS to reverse Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. She claims the choice has “ruinous penalties for non secular liberty” and argues it compelled her to decide on between her religion and her job as Rowan County Clerk.
Davis made nationwide headlines when she stopped issuing all marriage licenses after Obergefell, saying she couldn’t signal licenses for same-sex {couples} with out violating her Christian beliefs. That defiance landed her in jail for six days in 2015 and sparked a number of lawsuits. In a single case, a jury awarded two males she denied a license $100,000 in emotional misery damages — regardless that they ultimately acquired a license from one other clerk.
In her petition, Davis says she was stripped of all authorities immunity and denied the appropriate to make use of the First Modification as a protection in her private capability. She’s urging the Courtroom to deal with Obergefell like Dobbs v. Jackson Girls’s Well being Group, which overturned Roe v. Wade, and ship marriage coverage again to the states.
If Obergefell is overturned, the Respect for Marriage Act would nonetheless require recognition of current same-sex marriages, however states might determine whether or not to concern new licenses. Meaning marriage equality might vanish in over half the nation in a single day.
Now, all eyes are on the Supreme Courtroom — and whether or not they’ll even agree to listen to Davis’s case.
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