Kim Davis. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
The Supreme Court of the United States announced Nov. 10 that they would not review Kim Davis’ request to revisit her case, a challenge to marriage equality.
Davis infamously opposed Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015 as a county clerk in Rowan County, Kentucky. 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. SCOTUS also declined to hear her case in 2020.
Davis was 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.
They filed a petition for writ of certiorari and asked 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.”
In an unsigned order denying her review, SCOTUS noted the “motion of Foundation for Moral Law for leave to file a brief as amicus curiae out of time is denied. The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied.”
“As is generally the case when it denies petitions for review, the court did not provide any explanation for its decision not to hear Davis’ case,” SCOTUSblog reported. “If any justices disagreed with the decision not to take up the case, they did not note that disagreement publicly.”
LGBTQ+ and legal advocates largely saw Davis’ request as a longshot. Since 2015, protections for same-sex marriage have also been codified into federal law with the Respect for Marriage Act championed by former President Joe Biden.
The Human Rights Campaign was among those to celebrate the news.
“We won’t let up. We will keep fighting until all of us are free,” they shared.
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