Kim Davis, the former county clerk in Kentucky who famously refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, has suffered a significant setback in her effort to challenge civil rights progress. On Monday morning, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review her petition, effectively ending her legal battle.
Davis’s failed petition sought to overturn a loss she faced in a civil case brought by David Moore and David Ermold. The couple sued her after she refused to issue their marriage license on personal religious grounds. Notably, no Supreme Court justice opted to grant a review of the petition.
A devout Apostolic Christian, Davis holds the belief that marriage should be between one man and one woman. Despite the legalization of same-sex marriage in Kentucky in 2015—following the Supreme Court’s landmark Obergefell v. Hodges ruling—Davis stopped issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Rowan County.
Her refusal led to her jailing for contempt of court, after a judge ruled she was violating the law by declining to sign same-sex marriage certificates solely because of her religious beliefs. The judge described Davis’s explanation for disobeying the law as “simply insufficient.”
After losing the civil case filed by Moore and Ermold, Davis appealed to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals but was unsuccessful in March of this year. She then petitioned the Supreme Court to take up the case, which NBC News covered extensively. Throughout the process, Davis also referred to the Obergefell decision as a “legal fiction,” according to ABC News.
With today’s Supreme Court decision not to hear her case, the legal battle is effectively over, reinforcing the protections and recognition of same-sex marriage nationwide.
https://www.tmz.com/2025/11/10/supreme-court-denies-overturn-gay-marriage/