Supreme Court declines to hear same-sex marriage challenge

By Andrew Rice
The Center Square

The U.S. Supreme Court declined a petition on Monday to hear a case aimed at overturning the legalization of same-sex marriage.

Kim Davis, a former Kentucky county clerk, filed a petition to the nation’s high court requesting it review Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage.

The case against Davis began when she denied a court order to issue same-sex marriage licenses after the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. She also asked the court to reverse an order that required her to pay more than $300,000 to a couple whom she denied a marriage license.

In a legal filing to the court, lawyers for Davis argued that the legalization of same-sex marriage goes against the U.S. Constitution. The lawyers said the decision should be considered by each state individually.

“The damage done by Obergefell’s distortion of the Constitution is reason enough to overturn this opinion and reaffirm the rule of law and the proper role of this Court,” lawyers for Davis wrote in a petition to the court.

The court declined Davis’ request without explanation.