Supreme Court considers lawsuit challenging same-sex marriage
People gathered to protest the possibility of the Supreme Court taking up a case challenging same-sex marriage.
The Supreme Court is considering a case challenging a decade-old ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in the United States.
Deliberations on Friday, Nov. 7, were held behind closed doors, but the court could announce a decision to take up the case as early as Monday.
The case centers on Kim Davis, a former Kentucky county official who appealed to the high court after being ordered to pay $100,000 to a gay couple who refused to marry her in 2015, arguing that presiding over a marriage violates her religious beliefs.
Davis, then the Rowan County clerk, drew international attention when she refused to issue marriage licenses to David Armold and David Moore following a court ruling that made same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states. This case was known as Obergefell v. Hodges.
Some conservatives hope the justices will revisit the issue now that a conservative majority has overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, invalidating 50 years of legal precedent and effectively returning questions about abortion access to the states.
Justice Samuel Alito, one of the court’s most conservative justices, wrote the majority opinion resolving Roe v. Wade’s defeat. But Alito has indicated no intention of doing the same with Davis.
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Alito recently clarified his position after criticizing the decision to legalize same-sex marriage. “I’m not saying the decision in that case should be reversed,” he said at an event hosted by the C. Boyden Gray Center for Public Administration and State Studies on Oct. 3. “I have to say that so that what I say today is not misconstrued.”
Same-sex couples and members of the LGBTQ+ community are watching the court closely, worried that their right to marry could be restricted or their marriages invalidated.
Emily Friedman married his wife Brooke Friedman in October 2024 after three years of dating. She said Davis’ allegations shocked her and worried her, especially since the two were planning to start a family. But she remains hopeful.
“Nothing changes the fact that Brooke and I are legally married,” she told USA TODAY. “We are married in our hearts.”
If the court were to take up Davis and overturn the precedent, same-sex marriage could still be protected.
In 2022, President Joe Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act, which protects same-sex and interracial marriages at the federal level.
