Latest news with #Kim Davis
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Could the Supreme Court overturn same-sex marriage? This case hopes to roll back the ruling that made it legal.
Kim Davis, a former Kentucky county clerk who was jailed after refusing to file marriage licenses for same-sex couples, is hoping to overturn the Obergefell v. Hodges decision. The Supreme Court is being asked to hear a case that seeks to undo the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which allowed same-sex couples to get married. This challenge of Obergefell, the first since 2015, comes from Kim Davis, a former Kentucky county clerk who was jailed in 2015 after being held in contempt for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Davis, who refused to file the marriage licenses due to her religious beliefs, is appealing a damages verdict against her: a $100,000 jury verdict for emotional damages plus $260,000 for attorneys' fees. Now she is taking her case to the Supreme Court on the grounds that Obergefell was wrongly decided and infringes on her First Amendment rights. This is not the first time Davis has attempted to overturn the damages against her. In 2019, she petitioned the Supreme Court to dismiss the lawsuit, but the court declined to hear her case. More recently, in 2025, a panel of judges from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals also rejected her claims. Davis's challenge is concerning to LGBTQ advocates, as overturning Obergefell could undo the legal right to same-sex marriage. That 2015 ruling stated that same-sex couples must be allowed to marry and that all states must recognize those marriages. At the time, Davis's court battle was a direct challenge to Obergefell — but the ruling held. But now Liberty Counsel, the conservative group representing Davis, is asking the Supreme Court to overturn both the Sixth Circuit decision and the Supreme Court's initial decision in Obergefell. Mat Staver, Liberty Counsel's founder and chair, stated that Davis's case 'underscores why the U.S. 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.' Could same-sex marriage really be overturned? What would that mean? The new makeup of the Supreme Court could favor Davis. Since 2015, the Supreme Court has become more conservative, with three justices — Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — appointed by President Trump during his first term. While this does not necessarily mean the conservative majority would rule in Davis's favor, should the court choose to take her case, the latest request sounded alarm bells for many LGBTQ advocates. And there is recent precedent for overturning previously decided court cases. For example, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, ending federal protection for abortion rights after nearly 50 years. In his concurring opinion of the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson decision, which overturned Roe, Justice Clarence Thomas stated that the court should reconsider Obergefell and other cases related to rights based on the Constitution's due process clause. Should Obergefell be overturned, 32 states have laws on the books that would ban same-sex marriage — though, thanks to a 2022 federal law, they would still have to recognize unions that were already legally performed. Then-President Joe Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act, which overturned the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act and ensured federal recognition of same-sex and interracial marriages. However, the law does not force states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Could the Supreme Court overturn same-sex marriage? This case hopes to roll back the ruling that made it legal.
Kim Davis, a former Kentucky county clerk who was jailed after refusing to file marriage licenses for same-sex couples, is hoping to overturn the Obergefell v. Hodges decision. The Supreme Court is being asked to hear a case that seeks to undo the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which allowed same-sex couples to get married. This challenge of Obergefell, the first since 2015, comes from Kim Davis, a former Kentucky county clerk who was jailed in 2015 after being held in contempt for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Davis, who refused to file the marriage licenses due to her religious beliefs, is appealing a damages verdict against her: a $100,000 jury verdict for emotional damages plus $260,000 for attorneys' fees. Now she is taking her case to the Supreme Court on the grounds that Obergefell was wrongly decided and infringes on her First Amendment rights. This is not the first time Davis has attempted to overturn the damages against her. In 2019, she petitioned the Supreme Court to dismiss the lawsuit, but the court declined to hear her case. More recently, in 2025, a panel of judges from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals also rejected her claims. Davis's challenge is concerning to LGBTQ+ advocates, as overturning Obergefell could undo the legal right to gay marriage. That 2015 ruling stated that same-sex couples must be allowed to marry and that all states must recognize those marriages. At the time, Davis's court battle was a direct challenge to Obergefell — but the ruling held. But now Liberty Counsel, the conservative group representing Davis, is asking the Supreme Court to overturn both the Sixth Circuit decision and the Supreme Court's initial decision in Obergefell. Mat Staver, Liberty Counsel's founder and chair, stated that Davis's case 'underscores why the U.S. 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.' Could gay marriage really be overturned? What would that mean? The new makeup of the Supreme Court could favor Davis. Since 2015, the Supreme Court has become more conservative, with three justices — Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — appointed by President Trump during his first term. While this does not necessarily mean the conservative majority would rule in Davis's favor, should the court choose to take her case, the latest request sounded alarm bells for many LGBTQ+ advocates. And there is recent precedent for overturning previously decided court cases. For example, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, ending federal protection for abortion rights after nearly 50 years. In his concurring opinion of the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson decision, which overturned Roe, Justice Clarence Thomas stated that the court should reconsider Obergefell and other cases related to rights based on the Constitution's due process clause. Should Obergefell be overturned, 32 states have laws on the book that would ban gay marriage — though, thanks to a 2022 federal law, they would still have to recognize unions that were already legally performed. Then-President Joe Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act, which overturned the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act and ensured federal recognition of same-sex and interracial marriages. However, the law does not force states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Solve the daily Crossword
The Independent
a day ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Supreme Court asked to hear case that could upend same-sex marriage and absolve Kentucky clerk who refused to issue a license
A former county clerk in Kentucky who was briefly jailed for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses on religious grounds is asking the Supreme Court to consider her appeal, arguing in part that the high court's landmark 2015 decision recognizing gay marriage rights was wrongly decided. Kim Davis, who served as Rowan County Clerk until 2018, appealed to the Supreme Court late last month, challenging lower federal court rulings that meant she was on the hook for $100,000 in damages and $260,000 in attorneys fees in a legal battle with one of the couples whose marriage she declined to certify. 'If ever there was a case of exceptional importance, the first individual in the Republic's history who was jailed for following her religious convictions regarding the historic definition of marriage, this should be it,' the petition reads. The couple who sued Davis, David Ermold and David Moore, argue the high court should decline to hear the case. "Not a single judge on the U.S. 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," their attorney William Powell said in a statement to ABC News. In her appeal, Davis, supported by the religious advocacy group Liberty Counsel, argued the First Amendment's free exercise protections should shield her from liability, and that the Supreme Court's 2015 same-sex marriage decision in Obergefell v. Hodges is based on a 'legal fiction.' The 2015 decision, combined with a proclamation shortly after from then-Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear to recognize same-sex marriages, left Davis as a 'defenseless constitutional orphan,' per the appeal, who 'stands before the Court solely as an individual—stripped of any government immunity, a consequence that began with this Court's Obergefell opinion.' The appeal, which quotes heavily from two current Justices who dissented to the gay marriage ruling at the time — Clarence Thomas and Chief Justice John Roberts — also asks the high court to go after an even deeper set of legal standards known as substantive due process. Under this concept, courts have found that the due process protections of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments create rights not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution to privacy, interracial marriage, same-sex marriage, and, until the 2022 decision overturning Roe v .Wade, abortion. Though more than two-thirds of Americans support same-sex marriage, the appeal comes at a time when conservative groups and states are pushing to roll back the protections from Obergefell. As of this year, at least nine states have legislation aiming to block new licenses for gay marriages or resolutions urging the Supreme Court to overturn the 2015 ruling. In June, the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest Protestant Christian denomination, voted to make overturning the ruling a top priority. If the Supreme Court decides to hear Davis's case and subsequently overturns Obergefell, marriage law would revert back to the states. Both states and the federal government would still be required to recognize marriages from states where gay marriage is legal under the 2022 Respect for Marriage Act.
