This year marks the 10-year anniversary of the United States Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, in which the SCOTUS decided that marriage was a constitutional right for all Americans, regardless of their sexual orientation. Now, a decade later, former Rowan County, Kentucky clerk and troll who waits under the bridge for goats to eat Kim Davis wants to overturn that ruling. Apparently this is all because God’s true definition of marriage applies to Davis, who has been married four times to three unfortunate men, and not other people who simply want to be happy.
For those who don’t remember, after the landmark ruling in 2015, Davis came under fire for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-gender couples, saying it went against God’s definition of marriage. A gay couple named David Ermold and David Moore filmed Davis refusing their license and the video went viral. Then four couples sued her for her refusal, and she was jailed for five days until her staff started issuing marriage licenses without her name on them. Davis lost re-election, and in 2019 a court ruled that Ermold and Moore could sue her for damages, winning $50,000 in damages and $260,000 for their legal fees.
Davis is now suing for $100,000 in emotional damages and $260,000 in legal fees and asking the Supreme Court to overturn the Obergefell ruling. Now, if you’re thinking that someone saying “I don’t want to issue marriage licenses to gays, so none of them should be allowed to get married” is a bizarre argument, it’s because it is. Despite the sky-is-falling style headlines that make it sound like Davis has a good shot of overturning the ruling, it’s actually a legal long-shot based on a tortured argument.
As ABC News pointed out, lower courts have dismissed her claims and most legal experts are calling her chances a long shot. Furthermore, it’s a little premature to panic because the SCOTUS hasn’t even made a decision whether or not they’ll take up the case. Still, there’s a little reason to be cautious, as some justices on the court, namely Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, have been looking to overturn Obergefell for some time. But, for the entire court to agree to hear a case that’s been dismissed by lower courts and hangs on such a flimsy argument would be, well, shocking to say the least. Then again, overturning Roe v. Wade was shocking, so who knows? We’ll have to wait and see.
