The Supreme Court may consider the possibility of overturning marriage rights for same-sex couples. Former Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, who was jailed in 2015 after refusing to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples, has filed an appeal in hopes of persuading the court to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, the case that allowed same-sex marriages nationwide 10 years ago.

In a petition for writ of certiorari she filed in July, Davis said the First Amendment gives her the right to deny marriage certificates on religious grounds. Per ABC News, Davis said the court was “egregiously wrong” when it allowed same-sex marriage in the Obergefell vs Hodges decision.

What did Kim Davis say in her petition to the Supreme Court about gay marriage?

“The mistake must be corrected,” Davis’ attorney Mathew Staver wrote in the petition.

The attorney said Davis, who is one of a few people who has legal standing to challenge the case, is “the first individual in the Republic’s history who was jailed for following her religious convictions regarding the historic definition of marriage, this should be it.”

Davis filed her latest petition after the lower courts dismissed her case. Earlier in 2025, a federal appeals court panel said Davis “cannot raise the First Amendment as a defense because she is being held liable for state action, which the First Amendment does not protect.”

What happened to Kim Davis in 2015?

When she was worked as the Rowan County Clerk in 2015, Davis was the only person who had authority to issue legal marriage licenses under state law. The former clerk faced a lawsuit at that time after denying a license for Kentucky couple David Ermold and David Moore.

Now filing her petition, Davis said the court must overturn Obergefell and return marriage rights to the states. Speaking to Newsweek, Staver said the Obergefell decision stands on “weak on shaky ground.”

“It has no basis in the Constitution,” Staver said in an interview Newsweek. “It’s what caused this issue with Kim Davis to be sent to prison for six days and now facing hundreds of thousands of dollars personally, is the Obergefell opinion originally, and I think that it’s time to reevaluate that and overturn it.”

Some legal experts, however, say Davis is not likely to succeed in her case. Daniel Urman, law professor at Northeastern University, told Newsweek that it is “very unlikely for the Court to hear the case.” Urman said justices Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito may agree with Davis, but other conservatives like Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh and John Roberts are less likely to overturn same-sex marriage.

“There’s a chance that a conservative majority could use the case to expand the rights of religious objectors to same-sex marriage,” Urman told Newsweek. “But that’s not the same as overturning the right itself, and I don’t see a majority of the Court ready to do that. Culturally, same-sex marriage has become embedded in American life, and it is still popular in public opinion polls.”