Supreme Court rejects call to overturn its decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide
WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court On Monday, he rejected calls to overturn landmark decision legalizing gay marriage nationwide.
The judges rejected the appeal without comment. KimDavisIn 2015, the Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Former Kentucky court clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after her decision in the Hodges case.
Davis was trying to get the court to overturn a lower court order ordering him to pay $360,000 in damages and attorney fees to a couple whose marriage license was denied.
His lawyers repeatedly invoked the words of Justice Clarence Thomas, the only one of the nine justices to call for expunging the same-sex marriage decision.
Thomas was among four justices who dissented in 2015. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito are the other dissenters on the court today.
Roberts has remained silent on the issue since writing a dissenting opinion in the case. Alito continued to criticize the decision but recently said he was not advocating reversing it.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was not on the court in 2015, said there are times when the court must correct errors and overturn decisions, as in the 2022 case. Ended constitutional right to abortion.
But Barrett recently suggested that same-sex marriage may be in a different category than abortion because people rely on that decision when getting married and having children.
Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, praised the justices’ decision not to intervene. “The Supreme Court made clear today that refusing to respect the constitutional rights of others will not be without consequences,” Robinson said in a statement.
Davis drew national attention to Eastern Kentucky’s Rowan County when he turned away same-sex couples, saying his faith prevented him from complying with a high court order. He defied court orders until a federal judge jailed him for contempt of court in September 2015.
He was released after his staff issued licenses in his name and removed his name from the form. The Kentucky legislature later passed a law removing the names of all county clerks from state marriage licenses.
davis lost re-election bid In 2018.
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