Supreme Court Rejects Kim Davis’ Petition to Review Same-Sex Marriage Ruling

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a bid by former Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis to appeal a $100,000 damages verdict and get the justices to review the landmark 2015 decision on same-sex marriage rights in Obergefell v Hodges.

The court did not explain its decision.

Davis gained international attention after he refused to issue a marriage license to a gay couple on religious grounds, in open defiance of the high court ruling, and was subsequently jailed for six days. A jury later awarded the couple emotional damages plus $260,000 in attorneys’ fees.

“The Supreme Court’s denial of review confirms what we already knew: Same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry, and Kim Davis’s refusal to issue marriage licenses in defiance of Obergefell clearly violated that right,” said William Powell, attorney for the couple, David Ermold and David Moore. “This is a victory for same-sex couples around the world who have built their families and lives around the right to marry.”

in a request In the writ of certiorari filed in August, Davis argued that the First Amendment’s protection for the free exercise of religion immunizes her from personal liability for denials of marriage licenses.

He also challenged the court’s decision decision in Obergefell v. Hodges — which rooted the marriage rights of LGBTQ couples in the due process protections of the 14th Amendment — was “legal fiction.”

“Ten years ago, the Supreme Court correctly recognized that equal protection requires access to legal marriage for same-sex couples on the same terms and conditions as others, and reaffirmed the long-established principle that people, not the government, should be able to decide who they marry,” said Mary Bonauto, the GLAD Law attorney who successfully argued the marriage rights case in 2015.

“The only thing that has changed since Obergefell was decided is that people across the country have seen how marriage equality provides protections for families and children, and that protection strengthens communities, the economy and our society,” Bonauto said in a statement. “Today millions of Americans can breathe a sigh of relief for their families, current or future, because all families deserve equal rights under the law.”

There are an estimated 823,000 same-sex married couples in the United States, including 591,000 who married after the Supreme Court’s decision in June 2015, according to the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. Nearly one in five of those married couples has a child under the age of 18.

Lower courts had dismissed Davis’s claims and most legal experts considered his bid a long shot.

“Although various commentators and activists have spent weeks claiming that the justices were considering a vehicle to overturn Obergefell, no informed observer of the Court ever thought the Court would grant review in this case,” said Notre Dame Law Professor Richard W. Garnett. “The case does not actually present, clearly and directly, the issue that coverage has suggested it does. The attention focused on this minor, fact-based petition tells us more about the ongoing campaign to stir up public sentiment regarding the Court than it does about live constitutional issues.”

Davis’ petition was the first since 2015 to formally ask the Court to overturn the landmark marriage decision; She was also considered one of the only Americans with the legal standing to directly challenge the precedent.

The Supreme Court’s decision comes as conservative opponents of marriage rights for same-sex couples have waged a renewed campaign to overturn legal precedent and allow each state to set its own policy.

So far in 2025, at least nine states have introduced laws aimed at blocking new marriage licenses for LGBTQ people or passed resolutions urging the Supreme Court to overturn Obergefell as soon as possible, according to the advocacy group Lambda Legal.

In June, the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant Christian denomination, voted overwhelmingly to “overturn laws and court rulings, including Obergefell v. Hodges, that challenge God’s design for marriage and family” as a top priority.

Last month, Texas courts adopted new rules allowing judges across the state to refuse to perform wedding ceremonies for same-sex couples if doing so would violate a sincerely held religious belief.

While a large majority of Americans favor equal marriage rights, support appears to have softened in recent years, according to Gallup: 60% of Americans supported same-sex marriages in 2015, rising to 70% support in 2025, but that level has plateaued since 2020.

Among Republicans, support has dropped markedly over the past decade, from 55% in 2021 to 41% this year, Gallup found.