Kim Davis Petitions Supreme Court to Reconsider Same-Sex Marriage Ruling
Kim Davis, the former Rowan County, Kentucky clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2015, recently filed an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Obergefell v. Hodges decision in 2015 that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
Davis called on the nation's high court to overturn the landmark decision after she filed an appeal on July 24 regarding the compensation she was ordered to pay a couple after denying them a marriage license, Yahoo News reports. Davis was previously ordered in 2023 by a federal jury to pay $100,000 to a same-sex couple, David Ermold and David Moore, and $260,000 for their attorneys' fees and expenses.
Mat Staver, head of Liberty Counsel, the conservative legal group representing Davis, argued that the ruling threatens the religious liberty of Americans who believe marriage is only between one man and one woman.
"The High Court now has the opportunity to finally overturn this egregious opinion from 2015," Staver said in a statement.
Kim's appeal comes more than 10 years after the Supreme Court's ruling. She made headlines in 2015 when she refused to issue the license after the high court's decision and spent five days in jail on a contempt of court charge.
Following her release from jail, Davis told the media that issuing same-sex marriage licenses "would be conflicting with God's definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman. This would be an act of disobedience to my God," the Associated Press reported.
In 2020, the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from Davis.
Carl Esbeck, an expert on religious liberty at the University of Missouri School of Law, believes there's "not a chance" the court will overturn Obergefell.
"It would be a useless act to overturn Obergefell," Esbeck said. "The politics have simply moved on from same-sex marriage, even for conservative religious people."
According to a recent Gallup poll, nearly 70% of Americans support the legal recognition of same-sex marriages, 12 On Your Side reported.
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Ty Wright/Stringer
Originally published August 13, 2025.
