Brace yourselves, folks—the Supreme Court just dodged a major chance to rethink the 2015 decision that reshaped marriage laws across America.
Newsmax reported that on Monday, the justices turned down a plea to revisit their landmark Obergefell v. Hodges ruling, which made same-sex marriage legal nationwide.
This rejection came via an appeal from Kim Davis, a former Kentucky clerk who stood firm against issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Back in 2015, Davis became a national figure when she refused to comply in Rowan County, Kentucky, citing her religious convictions as her reason. Her stance wasn’t just talk; it led to jail time for contempt after she defied court orders to issue the licenses.
While she was sidelined, her staff eventually issued the licenses, though her name was deliberately left off the forms.
In response to the uproar, the Kentucky legislature passed a law removing all county clerks’ names from state marriage licenses to avoid future clashes.
Even so, Davis’s defiance didn’t save her politically—she lost her reelection bid in 2018 as the controversy lingered.
Her actions, as reported, showed her resolve: “Davis drew national attention to eastern Kentucky's Rowan County when she turned away same-sex couples, saying her faith prevented her from complying with the high court ruling.”
Fast forward to this week, and Davis’s latest effort to challenge Obergefell—and escape a $360,000 penalty in damages and fees—hit a dead end at the Supreme Court.
Her legal team leaned on past comments by Justice Clarence Thomas, who has criticized the 2015 ruling, hoping to sway the justices to reconsider.
They even noted how they “repeatedly invoked the words of Justice Clarence Thomas, who alone among the nine justices has called for erasing the same-sex marriage ruling.” A valiant effort, but the court didn’t bite.
Thomas wasn’t the only dissenter in 2015; Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito also opposed Obergefell, though Roberts has kept quiet on it since.
Alito, meanwhile, hasn’t held back his criticism of the decision, though he recently made clear he’s not pushing for its reversal.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a later addition to the court, has suggested same-sex marriage might stand apart from other reversible rulings, given how many have relied on it to build families.
