(Washington, D.C.) The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear former Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis’s appeal seeking to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 ruling guaranteeing same-sex marriage nationwide. The justices rejected Davis’s petition without comment or noted dissents, ending her long-running legal battle over her refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
As The Hill reported, Davis’s attorneys urged the court to “fix this mistake,” arguing her First Amendment religious rights protected her refusal to act. Davis was jailed in 2015 after defying a federal judge’s order and later lost a civil lawsuit brought by David Ermold and David Moore, one of the couples she denied a license. A jury awarded the pair $100,000 in damages plus $260,000 in legal fees.
Davis’s latest appeal asked the justices to strike down Obergefell entirely, but her opponents said she had waived that argument in lower courts. LGBTQ rights advocates called the Court’s denial a reassurance of marriage equality’s stability, despite lingering concern over the conservative majority’s stance on social issues.
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