US Supreme Court rejects bid to overturn same-sex marriage right

The US Supreme Court rejects a bid by a former Kentucky county official to overturn its landmark 2015 ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, as the justices steer clear of the contentious case some 3-1/2 years after its conservative majority reversed abortion rights.

The court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, turns away an appeal by Kim Davis, the former Rowan County clerk who was sued by a gay couple after refusing to issue any marriage licenses following the 2015 decision that recognized a constitutional right to same-sex marriage. Davis has said same-sex marriage conflicts with her religious beliefs as an Apostolic Christian.

Davis appealed after lower courts rejected her claim that the US Constitution’s First Amendment right to free exercise of religion shields her from liability in the case. Davis was ordered to pay more than $360,000 in damages and legal fees for violating the same-sex couple’s right to marry.

The 2015 ruling in the case called Obergefell v. Hodges represented a historic victory for LGBT rights in the United States. It declared that the Constitution’s guarantees of due process and equal protection under the law means states cannot ban same-sex marriages.

“The Supreme Court’s denial of review confirms what we already knew: same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry, and Kim Davis’s denial of marriage licenses in defiance of Obergefell plainly violated that right,” say William Powell, an attorney representing the plaintiffs.

“This is a win for same-sex couples everywhere who have built their families and lives around the right to marry,” Powell adds.