High court opts not to revisit same-sex marriage

Former county clerk who refused to issue licenses challenged landmark 2015 ruling.

- By Davin G. SAVAGE

ANNA MONEYMAKER Getty Images OUTSIDE the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2023, Vin Testa waves a pride flag to mark the anniversary of the ruling on same-sex marriage.

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed without comment a long-shot challenge to the constitutional right to marry for same-sex couples.

The justices turned away an appeal petition from Kim Davis, a former Kentucky county clerk who defied the court’s landmark decision in 2015 and repeatedly refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

She appealed after one couple sued and won $100,000 in damages plus attorneys fees for her deliberate violation of their constitutional rights. She argued the court should hear her case to decide whether the free exercise of religion guaranteed by the 1st Amendment should have protected her from being sued.

Her appeal also posed a separate question she had not raised before in her legal fight. She said the court should decide “whether Obergefell v. Hodges,” which established the right to same-sex marriage, “should be overturned.”

That belated question drew wide attention to her appeal, even though there was little or no chance it would be seriously considered by the high court.

Some LGBTQ+ advocates were concerned, however, because the conservative court overturned Roe vs. Wade and the constitutional right to abortion in the Dobbs case of 2022.

Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for himself, said then “we should reconsider all of this court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell,” referring to cases on the rights to contraception, private sexual conduct and same-sex marriages.