Attempt to Scrap Gay Marriage Heads to Supreme Court

The Supreme Court is set to consider whether to hear an appeal from Kim Davis, the former Kentucky clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2015. Davis, who was briefly jailed for defying the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges decision, is asking the justices to overturn that ruling, arguing that her First Amendment rights should shield her from liability, reports ABC News. Davis' case, which has already been rejected by lower courts, will be discussed in the court's private conference on Friday, with four votes needed for it to move forward. The outcome from the session is expected to be released early next week.

Davis, who was ordered to pay damages to the couple she refused to issue a license, claims the 2015 ruling was a "legal fiction" and that her religious convictions should protect her from punishment. Her attorney describes the case as one of "exceptional importance," highlighting that Davis is the first person jailed over religious objections to same-sex marriage. Legal experts, however, see her bid as a long shot, noting that no appeals court judge supported her last petition. An attorney for the couple argues Davis overstepped her authority and that her First Amendment defense is weak.

Davis' petition appears to be the first formal challenge to the Supreme Court precedent in a decade. And if the high court does opt to hear the case? That would be a "four-alarm fire," because "if they take it, it's because they're going to overturn it," says Dan Canon of the University of Louisville's Brandeis School of Law, per the Louisville Courier Journal. The AP notes that Davis' attorneys "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 one of the four dissenting justices in the 2015 Supreme Court ruling.

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Meanwhile, several states have introduced measures seeking to limit same-sex marriage, and Texas recently gave judges the right to refuse to perform such weddings on religious grounds. The Obergefell ruling remains in place, and the Respect for Marriage Act requires all states to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere, even if the legal landscape changes in the future. There are currently more than 800,000 married same-sex couples in the US, with many raising children.