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By Lizzy Chirkpi
The United States Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a case seeking to overturn its 2015 landmark decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
The conservative majority court, consistent with its usual practice, offered no explanation for refusing to take up the appeal filed by Kim Davis.The former Kentucky county clerk who made national headlines in 2015 when she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, citing her Christian faith.
Davis, who was subsequently sued and ordered to pay substantial damages to a couple she had denied a license, had petitioned the Supreme Court to reconsider Obergefell v. Hodges. The ruling that established the constitutional right to same-sex marriage.
Her appeal had reignited anxiety within the LGBTQ+ community, given the current 6–3 conservative tilt of the court and its 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which had recognized the constitutional right to abortion. Advocates feared the justices might similarly revisit marriage equality.
However, at least four justices would have had to agree to hear the case, a threshold that was not met.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), one of the United States’ leading LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations, welcomed the court’s move, calling it a reaffirmation of equality and constitutional rights.
“Today, love won again,” HRC president Kelley Robinson said in a statement celebrating the decision. “When public officials take an oath to serve their communities, that promise extends to everyone including LGBTQ+ people.”
Robinson added that the ruling sends a clear message about accountability: “The Supreme Court made clear today that refusing to respect the constitutional rights of others does not come without consequences.”
The 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision remains one of the most consequential civil rights rulings in U.S. history, guaranteeing marriage equality under the Fourteenth Amendment. While it has enjoyed broad public support in the decade since, some conservative activists and religious groups have continued to challenge its legal basis.
With Monday’s decision, the Supreme Court has signaled at least for now that it has no intention of reopening that debate.