The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a bid by former Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis to appeal her lawsuit for $100,000 damages and get the justices to review the landmark 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges.
The court did not explain its decision.
The Supreme Court of the United States, November 7, 2025, in Washington.
Mariam Zuhaib/AP
Davis gained international attention after he refused to issue a marriage license to a gay couple on religious grounds, in open defiance of the high court ruling, and was subsequently jailed for six days. A jury later awarded the couple $100,000 in emotional damages plus $260,000 in attorney fees.
in a request In the writ of certiorari filed in August, Davis argued that the First Amendment’s protection for the free exercise of religion immunizes her from personal liability for denials of marriage licenses.
He also challenged the court’s decision decision in Obergefell v. Hodges — which rooted the marriage rights of LGBTQ couples in the due process protections of the 14th Amendment — was “legal fiction.”
Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis makes a statement to the media at the front door of the Rowan County Judicial Center in Morehead, Kentucky, on September 14, 2015.
Timothy D. Easley/AP
Lower courts had dismissed Davis’s claims and most legal experts considered his bid a long shot.
Davis’s appeal to the Supreme Court comes as conservative opponents of marriage rights for same-sex couples wage a renewed campaign to overturn legal precedent and allow each state to set its own policy.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
