Supreme Court Set to Review Challenge to Same-Gender Marriage

The Supreme Court recently announced that they are considering hearing a case that could threaten the status of same-gender marriages.

According to The Pink News, on November 7, justices will convene in a private meeting to discuss former Kentucky county clerk, Kim Davis’ case. After the Obergefell v. Hodges decision in 2015 that made same-gender marriages a constitutional right, Davis refused to issue marriage licenses to queer couples due to “religious grounds.”

Davis has been in the news quite often due to her adamant prejudice against queer couples. When she refused to issue a marriage license to a gay couple, David Moore and David Ermold, the couple filed a lawsuit against her. Though, she continued to refuse issuing gay marriage licenses under what she referred to as “God’s authority.”

She has been continuing this litigation for the past decade and in July of this year, she called on the Supreme Court to hear her challenge of the Court of Appeal’s argument that Davis’ behavior was unconstitutional. Davis claimed that she was utilizing her First Amendment right to express her religious beliefs, and that that wasn’t being protected.

On November 7, the Supreme Court justices will debate taking on Davis’ case, which may impact same-gender marriage protections throughout the entire country. The court needs four or more votes wanting to accept the case, and two consecutive votes must go through for the case to be reviewed.

If this first vote fails, the result will likely be announced on Monday November 10. But if it goes through, it will most likely be over a week until we know their ruling.

Just to be clear, while this case possibly succeeding has implications about the protection of Obergefell v. Hodges, it does not mean that the court is going to overturn same gender marriage.

Regardless of if Obergefell is overturned, the 2022 Respect for Marriage Act does provide federal protections on existing same-gender marriages, demanding they be recognized by the federal government and other states.