Kim Davis before the Supreme Court – The new campaign against marriage equality

Ten years after the historic ruling of the United States Supreme Court that guaranteed same-sex couples in all states the right to marry, the fight over this fundamental right is flaring up again - and the symbolic figure of this backward movement is a woman who already made headlines in 2015: Kim Davis. The former county clerk of Rowan County in Kentucky was jailed for six days at the time because she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Her reasoning: religious beliefs. Now, a decade later, Davis is once again going to court. She is challenging not only a damages verdict of 100,000 US dollars that she must pay to a homosexual couple, but also the additional 260,000 US dollars in attorney fees. In her petition to the Supreme Court filed in July, she invokes the protection of religious freedom under the First Amendment, which, according to Davis, exempts her from personal liability. But her real goal goes far beyond that: she wants to overturn the Obergefell decision, which she calls “egregiously wrong.”

Her attorney Mathew Staver speaks of a “mistake that must be corrected” and calls the majority opinion of then-Justice Anthony Kennedy “legal fiction.” This is the first time since 2015 that the highest court has been officially asked to overturn marriage equality again. Davis is considered one of the few people in the United States who even have the necessary legal standing to challenge such a precedent. The lower courts have already rejected her arguments. An appeals court ruled that Davis could not invoke the First Amendment because she acted as a government official - and this protection does not apply to government action. Nevertheless, the political climate is reinforcing the push: at least nine states in 2025 have introduced laws or passed resolutions that either prevent new marriage licenses for LGBTQ couples or call on the Supreme Court to overturn Obergefell as quickly as possible. Even the Southern Baptist Convention - the largest Protestant church in the United States - declared in June that overturning this ruling was one of its top priorities.

While polls show that a majority of Americans still support marriage equality - currently around 70 percent - this support has stagnated for years and has dropped among Republicans from 55 percent in 2021 to only 41 percent. Davis’ lawyers also point to the court’s approach in abortion law: just as Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, Obergefell must now also be revised, especially with regard to Justice Clarence Thomas, who in his concurring opinion in Roe openly called for a review of other landmark decisions such as Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell. Should the Supreme Court accept the case, a hearing would be expected at the earliest in the spring of 2026 and a decision by June of the same year. However, it is more likely that the justices will reject the appeal and thus let the lower court rulings stand - especially since the “Respect for Marriage Act” passed in 2022 already ensures that all states must recognize existing same-sex marriages, even if Obergefell were to fall one day. For Davis and her supporters, even the acceptance of the lawsuit would be a symbolic victory. For her opponents, however, her campaign is a symbol of absurdity: a woman who has been divorced multiple times and is in her fourth marriage wants to forbid same-sex couples from marrying - and calls that the protection of the “sanctity” of this institution.

Investigative journalism requires courage, conviction – and your support.