The US Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from Kim Davis, the former Kentucky court clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples following the landmark 2015 Obergefell v Hodges ruling. The justices declined to hear the case without comment, effectively upholding lower court decisions against Davis.
Davis had sought to overturn a lower-court order requiring her to pay $360,000 in damages and attorney's fees to a couple denied a marriage license. Her legal team had invoked Justice Clarence Thomas, who has called for overturning the same-sex marriage ruling, but the Court declined to take up the matter.
Justice Thomas was among four dissenters in the 2015 case, alongside Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito. While Roberts has remained silent on the issue, Alito has continued to criticise the decision but recently stated he was not advocating for its reversal. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, appointed after 2015, has suggested that same-sex marriage may be distinct from abortion because of the reliance interests involved.
The Human Rights Campaign president, Kelley Robinson, praised the decision, stating: 'The Supreme Court made clear today that refusing to respect the constitutional rights of others does not come without consequences.' Davis gained national attention for her refusal, which led to her being jailed for contempt of court in 2015. She was released after her staff issued the licenses without her name, and Kentucky later enacted a law removing clerks' names from marriage licenses.
