Hold On~~THe Supremes Will Decide if They Will Take Appeal to same Sex Marriage
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| FILE - Caroline Orsi, left, marches with her wife, Julia Brown, in the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade, June 28, 2015, in San Francisco. (Photo by Max Whittaker/Getty Images |
WASHINGTON (TNND) — The Supreme Court scheduled a conference on November 7 to determine if they'll consider hearing a case seeking to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, ending constitutional protections for same sex marriage.
Kim Davis, a former county clerk in Kentucky, petitioned the Supreme Court in July to hear her case after a 6th District Court of Appeals dismissed her appeal.
In 2015 — shortly after the Hodges decision — Davis refused to issued a marriage license to a gay couple on the grounds that it was a violation of her religious beliefs. The couple sued, and a federal judge ordered Davis to issue licenses for both heterosexual and homosexual couples.
In 2023, a jury ruled that Davis would pay $100,000 in civil damages to a gay couple she denied issuing a marriage license to. The 6th District Court of Appeals dismissed her case this year, ruling that she is being "held liable for state action," which isn't protected under the First Amendment.
"Although Davis's assertions are novel, they fail under basic constitutional principles," the court ruled. "Under 1983, Davis is being held liable for state action, which the First Amendment does not protect—so the Free Exercise Clause cannot shield her from liability."
But Davis is arguing that her appeal before the Supreme Court was made as an individual and "not as a government official with some form of sovereign or qualified immunity." Therefore, she said is wasn't fair for her to be “on the hook for tort liability as a person, yet have no personal defenses.”
Davis' lawyer Matthew Staver wrote in the petition for the Supreme Court that the Hodges ruling was "far outside the bound of any reasonable interpretation of the various constitutional provisions to which it vaguely pointed."
"This flawed opinion has produced disastrous results leaving individuals like Davis 'find[ing] it increasingly difficult to participate in society without running afoul of Obergefell and its effect on other antidiscrimination laws,'" the petition stated. "And, until the Court revisits its 'creation of atextual constitutional rights,' Obergefell will continue to have ruinous consequences for religious liberty.'"
Traditionally, it takes two conferences for the justices to determine if they'll proceed with hearing a case.
Justice Clearance Thomas has previously signaled he was open to reviewing the Hodges ruling. In a concurring opinion which overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Thomas wrote that the court has "a duty to 'correct the error' established' "in all of this Court's substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell."
Following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Congress passed the Respect for Marriage Act, requiring all states to legally recognize same sex couples. However, if the Supreme Court decides to hear Davis' case and overturns Hodges decision; states will then be allowed to discriminate against issuing marriage licenses to gay couples. However, they still would have to recognize the marriages and legal protections of gay couples.
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The LGBT who vote for Trump who has given us a MAGA Supreme Ct. that doesn't even like the Constitution, This might be the time some chickens come home to roosts. More will happen latter..
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