The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from former Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, decisively upholding its landmark 2015 decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide and ensuring she must pay significant damages.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned away an appeal from Kim Davis, the former Kentucky court clerk who garnered national attention for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the high court’s 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges. Without comment, the justices rejected Davis's attempt to overturn a lower-court order requiring her to pay $360,000 in damages and attorney’s fees to a couple she denied a marriage license. While Justice Clarence Thomas has consistently called for erasing the same-sex marriage ruling, and Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito also dissented in 2015, neither Roberts nor Alito are currently advocating for its overturn. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, not on the court in 2015, has suggested same-sex marriage might be in a different category than abortion regarding overturning, due to people's reliance on the decision. Human Rights Campaign president Kelley Robinson praised the decision, stating it makes clear that refusing constitutional rights has consequences. Davis's defiance led to her being jailed for contempt of court in 2015, and she subsequently lost her re-election bid in 2018.
