The Supreme Court is set to discuss a proposal to reverse the pivotal decision that legalized same-sex marriage across the United States during their confidential meeting.
Among the cases on their docket is a highly improbable appeal from Kim Davis, the former Kentucky court clerk who famously defied the court’s 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision by refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Davis is seeking to overturn a lower court’s ruling that requires her to pay $554,000 in damages and legal fees to a couple she denied a marriage license.
The justices could potentially announce their decision as soon as Monday.
Davis’ legal team has frequently cited the remarks of Justice Clarence Thomas, the sole member of the court who has advocated for the annulment of the same-sex marriage ruling.
In 2015, Thomas was among the four dissenting justices. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, who also opposed the decision, are still serving on the court.
Roberts has been silent on the subject since he wrote a dissenting opinion in the case. Alito has continued to criticise the decision, but said recently he was not advocating that it be overturned.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was not on the court in 2015, has said 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 Kentuckyâs 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 licences until a federal judge jailed her for contempt of court in September 2015.
She was released after her staff issued the licences 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 licences.
Davis lost a reelection bid in 2018.
