Kim Davis. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
Kim Davis, a former Kentucky clerk who infamously opposed marriage equality, is once again asking the Supreme Court to review her case and revisit Obergefell v. Hodges.
A federal judge previously ordered Davis to pay a total of $360,000 in damages and attorney fees after she refused to issue marriage licenses to two same-sex couples in 2015, which she has appealed. SCOTUS previously declined to hear her case in 2020.
Davis is represented by the Liberty Counsel, which has been designated as an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. 10 years after marriage equality, her lawyers are still fighting the ruling and Obergefell — the Associated Press reported in June that they hope to “affirm Davis’ constitutional rights” and overturn the case.
Last month they filed a petition for writ of certiorari, asking SCOTUS to overturn the $100,000 jury verdict for emotional damages and $260,000 for attorneys’ fees. ABC News reported on the matter Aug. 11, noting that Davis’ lawyers called the marriage equality ruling “egregiously wrong.”
They also noted the “mistake must be corrected,” but as The Washington Blade subsequently reported:
While she is considered one of the only Americans with legal standing to challenge the precedent, Davis’s appeal is considered a long shot by most legal experts, and it comes a few months after a federal appeals court panel decided she could not sue on First Amendment protections because “she is being held liable for state action.
Legal protections for same-sex marriage are also codified into federal law with the Respect for Marriage Act, passed on a bipartisan basis under the Biden-Harris administration, which presents an additional hurdle for litigants seeking to overturn or narrow Obergefell. However, the RFMA does not require states to issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples if the 2015 ruling was revoked, only that they recognize valid same-sex (and interracial) marriages performed in other states.
The Florida LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus was among those to urge SCOTUS to reject Davis’ bid.
“The request to eliminate marriage equality would be laughable but for the previous rulings by the current Supreme Court to roll back equality for other members of the LGBTQ+ community,” President Kristen Browde said in a statement. “No judge in any lower court has ruled in favor of Kim Davis or her bigotry. No justice of the Supreme Court should. We urge the Court to reject this appeal without any other action.”
