An appeal of a verdict against controversial former Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, which also took aim at a 2015 decision that legalized same-sex marriage throughout the country, will not be taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The decision was issued Nov. 10 in an order list from the high court. No reason for the denial was included in the two-sentence ruling.
Davis, who drew international attention to her Northeastern Kentucky community 10 years ago when she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges ruling, had called on the court to strike down a 2023 court verdict that found she owed $100,000 to a couple who she had denied a license in 2015. Her attorneys with Liberty Counsel had also pushed for the Supreme Court to use her case to overturn the Obergefell decision.
The appeal was considered a longshot. The Supreme Court had previously decided against taking it up, and at a forum earlier this month University of Louisville assistant professor Joe Dunman, an attorney who opposed Davis in court a decade ago, noted the constitutionality of marriage bans was not the central issue in her case, as that issue had already been decided when she refused to issue licenses.
Liberty Counsel, the legal group representing Davis, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Attorney Daniel Schmid previously told The Courier Journal the goal of the appeal was to return the decision of whether to recognize same-sex marriages back to the states.
The Obergefell ruling was issued in June 2015. Months later, Davis made headlines when she refused to issue marriage licenses to several same-sex couples in Rowan County, citing her religious beliefs and her rights under the First Amendment.
Davis eventually stopped issuing any marriage licenses and was briefly jailed over her refusal to comply with the law. She was released after five days, and the issue was resolved after marriage licenses were amended to remove her name.
Her appeal was centered around a 2023 verdict that found she owed $100,000 to a couple who she had denied a marriage license, and an additional $260,000 in attorney fees.
The Supreme Court has shifted to the right in recent years, with a 6-3 conservative majority. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have previously argued the Obergefell ruling could be worth revisiting.
This story may be updated.
Reach Lucas Aulbach at laulbach@courier-journal.com.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Supreme Court declines to hear Kim Davis case on same-sex marriage
