US Supreme Court declines to hear case challenging same-sex marriage
In 2015, the US Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage is legal throughout the United States. Conservative activists remain dissatisfied with this decision. However, an attempt to have the Supreme Court revisit the issue has now failed.
Washington (AFP/AP) - The US Supreme Court has declined to hear a case challenging the constitutional right to same-sex marriage. The conservative-dominated court, as is customary, did not provide any explanation for its decision to reject the case.
Kim Davis, a former county clerk in Kentucky who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, had asked the top court to overturn its landmark 2015 ruling legalizing gay marriage. Davis was ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to a gay couple who were among those she refused a marriage license.
Conservatives have a 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court and Davis's appeal of the award had raised concerns among the LGBTQ community that the court - which struck down the constitutional right to abortion three years ago - may agree to revisit the decision legalizing same-sex marriage. At least four votes would have been needed for the top court to accept the case.
Human Rights activists celebrate: "Love won again"
Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy group, welcomed the court's decision not to hear the case brought by Davis, who had cited her Christian religious beliefs for her refusal to issue the marriage licenses. "Today, love won again," Human Rights Campaign president Kelley Robinson said in a statement. "When public officials take an oath to serve their communities, that promise extends to everyone -- including LGBTQ+ people," Robinson said. "The Supreme Court made clear today that refusing to respect the constitutional rights of others does not come without consequences."
Davis' lawyers had repeatedly invoked the words of Justice Clarence Thomas, who alone among the nine justices has called for erasing the same-sex marriage ruling. Thomas was among four dissenting justices in 2015. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito are the other dissenters who are on the court today. Roberts has been silent on the subject since he wrote a dissenting opinion in the case. Alito has continued to criticize the decision, but he said recently he was not advocating that it be overturned.
Plaintiff had gone to prison for refusing to certify a gay marriage
Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was not on the court in 2015, has said that there are times when the court should correct mistakes and overturn decisions, as it did in the 2022 case that ended a constitutional right to abortion. But Barrett has suggested recently that same-sex marriage might be in a different category than abortion because people have relied on the decision when they married and had children.
Davis drew national attention to eastern Kentucky's Rowan County when she turned away same-sex couples, saying her faith prevented her from complying with the high court ruling. She defied court orders to issue the licenses until a federal judge jailed her for contempt of court in September 2015. She was released after her staff issued the licenses on her behalf but removed her name from the form. The Kentucky legislature later enacted a law removing the names of all county clerks from state marriage licenses. Davis lost a reelection bid in 2018.