Key Takeaways
- Supreme Court Decision: The Supreme Court will not ban same-sex marriage nationwide.
- Kim Davis Appeal: The justices declined to hear an appeal from Kim Davis, who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
- Justice Opinions: Justice Clarence Thomas is the only justice advocating for the overturning of the same-sex marriage ruling.
- Legislative Changes: Following the Davis case, Kentucky removed county clerks’ names from marriage licenses.
The Supreme Court does not plan to ban same-sex marriage nationwide, despite calls to do so. On Monday (November 10), it declined to overturn its landmark 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized the act. Human Rights Campaign president Kelley Robinson praised the justices’ decision not to intervene.
“The Supreme Court made clear today that refusing to respect the constitutional rights of others does not come without consequences,” Robinson said in a statement.
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Who Wants Ruling On Same-Sex Marriages Overturned?
The justices, without comment, turned away an appeal from Kim Davis. She’s the former Kentucky court clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the 2015 decision. She drew national attention to eastern Kentucky’s Rowan County when she turned away same-sex couples. Davis claimed her faith prevented her from complying with the high court ruling. For that reason, she ignored court orders to issue the licenses. In response, a federal judge jailed her for contempt of court in September 2015. She was released after her staff issued the licenses on her behalf, but removed her name from the form.
How Did Kim Davis End Up At The Supreme Court?
Following the Davis case, the Kentucky legislature subsequently enacted a law removing the names of county clerks from state marriage licenses. She lost a reelection bid in 2018. Since then, Kim Davis has been trying to get the Supreme Court to overturn a lower-court order for her to pay $360,000 in damages and attorney’s fees to a couple denied a marriage license.
Here’s Where The Supreme Court Justices Stand
Kim Davis’ lawyers repeatedly invoked the words of Justice Clarence Thomas. Thomas is the only one among the nine justices who has called for erasing the same-sex marriage ruling. Additionally, Thomas was among four dissenting judges in 2015. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito are the other dissenters who are still on the court today. Roberts has been silent on the subject since he wrote a dissenting opinion in the case. Alito has continued to criticize the decision, but he recently stated that he was not advocating for it to be overturned.
Meanwhile, Justice Amy Coney Barrett has said that there are times when the court should correct mistakes and overturn decisions, as it did in the 2022 case that ended a constitutional right to abortion. Barrett was not on the court in 2015, but she has suggested recently that same-sex marriage might be in a different category than abortion. She said people have relied on the Supreme Court decision when they married and had children.
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Associated Press writer Mark Sherman contributed to this report via AP Newsroom.
