SCOTUS Asked To Overturn Landmark Same-Sex Marriage Ruling

The Supreme Court of the United States is set to consider hearing a case that explicitly asks to overturn same-sex marriage nationwide.

Former Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis has launched an appeal to the court to overturn the court’s ruling in Obergfell v. Hodges, less than two months since the 10 year anniversary of the landmark ruling, which finally won same-sex couples the right to marriage equality.

In 20215, Davis spent six days in jail after she refused to issue marriage licenses to a same sex couple on religious grounds, despite the ruling having already passed. David is appealing a $100,000 jury verdict for emotional damages, as well as $260,000 for attorneys fees.

Davis argues in her petition to the court that First Amendment protection for free exercise of religious protects her from personal liability for the denial of the licences.

Furthermore, she alleges that the high court’s ruling in Obergfell v. Hodges was “egregiously wrong” and “deeply damaging”.

“This flawed opinion has produced disastrous results leaving individuals like Davis ‘find[ing] it increasingly difficult to participate in society without running afoul of Obergefell and its effect on other antidiscrimination laws,’” wrote Davis’ attorney Mathew Staver in the petition.

“And, until the Court revisits its ‘creation of atextual constitutional rights,’ Obergefell will continue to have ruinous consequences for religious liberty.’”

This is the first time since 2015 that the court has been formally asked to overturn the decision, with Davis seen as one of the only American with legal standing to challenge it.

“If there ever 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,” wrote Staver.

Experts “confident” petition doesn’t “merit further attention”

If the Supreme Court does agree to hear the appear and overturns Obergfell v. Hodges, the decision to responsibility to legalise same-sex marriage would return to states, as has happened with the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade and abortion access.

However, much of the commentary from legal experts around the appeal find Davis’ case lacking.

“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,” said William Powell, the attorney for David Ermold and David Moore, the now-married Kentucky couple that sued Davis for damages, in a statement to ABC News.

The appeal comes as LGBTQIA+ rights in the United States are increasingly under attack from the Trump administration and those emboldened by his movement.

Currently, nine states have either introduced legislation aimed at blocking new marriage licenses for same-sex couples or passed resolutions urging the Supreme Court to reverse Obergefell as soon as possible, including Michigan, Montana, and South Dakota.

In a press conference announcing the resolution in March, Michigan state representative Josh Schriver said, “Michigan Christians follow Christ’s definition of marriage as a covenant between a man and a woman, an institution established to glorify God and produce children.”

“The new resolution urges the preservation of the sanctity of marriage and constitutional protections that ensure freedom of conscience for all Michigan residents.”

Speaking to Out Magazine a decade on from the landmark case, American civil rights activist Jim Obergefell said he feared same-sex marriage could be “erased” under the current administration.

“I tell my story not just with joy but with fear,” he said. “Fear that this story will be erased, our marriage will be erased, that our right to say ‘I do’ will be erased.

“We have taken some great steps forward, but with every bit of progress in our nation, we take steps back. If we don’t remind people where we’ve been, we’re going to lose it.”