On Monday, in a decision that's sure to rattle more than a few cages, the United States Supreme Court denied an appeal (declined to grant certiorari) that could have overturned Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. The Court issued the denial without comment and without any noted dissents.
The Supreme Court on Monday said it will not revisit its landmark decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, leaving intact the 2015 protections granted to couples in Obergefell v. Hodges.
Justices rejected an appeal brought by Kim Davis, a former Kentucky county clerk who was held in contempt after she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples due to her religious beliefs.
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up her appeal without explanation and without any noted dissents.
Though Davis's appeal centered largely on First Amendment issues and questions of religious protection, her lawyers also requested that the Supreme Court consider overturning the 5-4 ruling in Obergefell, or the 2015 decision that granted same-sex couples the constitutional right to marry.
This has been a contentious topic since the initial 2015 decision, but it seems that there are two separate questions at stake here. First, some background: Kim Davis was jailed (briefly) for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, citing her religious beliefs, which are protected under the First Amendment.
Her conditions of employment, however, are not protected under the First Amendment. Those conditions of employment, as a county clerk, include providing the same government services to all residents of the county, regardless of her personal beliefs.
It's an interesting problem. One wonders why the county didn't simply find her a like position where her religious views weren't an issue, like in the Department of Motor Vehicles, but she was jailed (again, briefly) instead, which seems to me like a bit of an overreaction.
Davis was briefly jailed in 2015 after she refused to issue the marriage licenses to same-sex couples due to her religious beliefs, prompting a federal judge to hold her in contempt. She was also ordered by the court to pay $100,000 in damages to the couple, and to cover their legal fees.
"If ever a case deserved review," Davis's lawyers said in their appeal, "the first individual who was thrown in jail post-Obergefell for seeking accommodation for her religious beliefs should be it."
Though her appeal was considered a long shot, it had prompted fresh speculation about whether the court's conservative majority might agree to review the seminal case, especially in light of the court's 2022 decision to overturn abortion protections in Roe v. Wade.
It appears that now there will be no such review from the Supreme Court.
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The issue at hand appears to be based on, not a religious or moral argument, but a legal one: A county clerk, indeed any government employee, is required to provide the government services they are responsible for equally, to all legal applicants. The legal bond of marriage has far-reaching implications: It grants a person, given the title of spouse, legal rights, including shared property and inheritance of that property, the right to make medical decisions, and so forth.
For the time being, with this denial, that will remain in place for same-sex couples.
You can view the Supreme Court's decision here.
Editor’s Note: After more than 40 days of screwing Americans, a few Dems have finally caved. The Schumer Shutdown was never about principle—just inflicting pain for political points.
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