Nearly a decade after she became a polarizing figure in the marriage equality fight, Kim Davis is back — and she’s aiming straight for the Supreme Court.
In a petition filed in July 2025, Davis asked SCOTUS to reverse Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. She claims the decision has “ruinous consequences for religious liberty” and argues it forced her to choose between her faith and her job as Rowan County Clerk.
Davis made national headlines when she stopped issuing all marriage licenses after Obergefell, saying she couldn’t sign licenses for same-sex couples without violating her Christian beliefs. That defiance landed her in jail for six days in 2015 and sparked multiple lawsuits. In one case, a jury awarded two men she denied a license $100,000 in emotional distress damages — even though they eventually received a license from another clerk.
In her petition, Davis says she was stripped of all government immunity and denied the right to use the First Amendment as a defense in her personal capacity. She’s urging the Court to treat Obergefell like Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade, and send marriage policy back to the states.
If Obergefell is overturned, the Respect for Marriage Act would still require recognition of existing same-sex marriages, but states could decide whether to issue new licenses. That means marriage equality could vanish in over half the country overnight.
Now, all eyes are on the Supreme Court — and whether they’ll even agree to hear Davis’s case.
