Supreme Court asked to overturn gay marriage rights
Kim Davis, the former Kentucky county clerk, filed a petition calling on justices to take away the right to marry for same-sex couples, claiming the original ruling was 'egregiously wrong'.
Davis, 59, served five days in prison in 2015 for refusing to issue marriage licences to David Ermold and David Moore on religious grounds shortly after same-sex marriage was legalised.
She was ordered to pay $100,000 to the couple for emotional damages and $260,000 to cover their attorney fees.
In a 90-day writ filed last month, Davis appealed the payments, arguing her First Amendment protections to practise her religion freely protected her.
She also urged the high court to review its decision in the Obergefell v Hodges case, which extended marriage rights for same-sex couples, describing it as 'legal fiction'.
'The mistake must be corrected,' Liberty Counsel, the nonprofit law firm representing Davis, wrote in the petition.
'If ever a case deserved review, the first individual who was thrown in jail post-Obergefell for seeking accommodation for her religious beliefs should be it.
'Davis was jailed, haled before a jury, and now faces crippling monetary damages based on nothing more than purported emotional distress,' the filing continued.
'Supreme Court unlikely to take up case'
The petition is understood to be the first time since 2015 that the Supreme Court has been formally asked to reverse the ruling legalising gay marriage.
At the time, Davis was the sole authority in Rowan County in charge of issuing marriage licences on behalf of the government.
Lower courts have dismissed her claims, and few legal experts expect the Supreme Court to take up her case.
'Not a single judge on the UD Court of Appeals showed any interest in Davis's rehearing petition, and we are confident the Supreme Court will likewise agree that Davis's arguments do not merit further attention,' an attorney for Mr Ermold and Mr Moore told ABC News.
Davis's appeal comes amid a renewed push by conservatives opposed to gay marriage to allow each state to set its policy.
So far this year, at least nine states have either introduced legislation aimed at blocking new marriage licences for gay couples or passed resolutions calling on the high court to reverse the same-sex marriage ruling, according to the advocacy group Lambda Legal.
The Davis petition argues that the court should treat same-sex marriage in the same way it dealt with the issue of abortion, in its 2022 decision to overturn Roe v Wade.
Mat Staver, the founder of Liberty Counsel, said: 'Kim Davis's case underscores why the US Supreme Court should overturn the wrongly decided Obergefell v Hodges opinion because it threatens the religious liberty of Americans who believe that marriage is a sacred union between one man and one woman.
'Obergefell cannot just push the First Amendment aside to punish individuals for their beliefs about marriage,' Mr Staver continued.
'The First Amendment precludes making the choice between your faith and your livelihood.
'The high court now has the opportunity to finally overturn this egregious opinion from 2015.'
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