Social media users are criticizing former Kentucky court clerk Kim Davis for her multiple divorces as she urges the Supreme Court to take on her case challenging gay marriage.
Davis has been divorced three times, according to court records obtained by U.S. News & World Report. Davis refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, saying her faith prevented her from complying with the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges. The Supreme Court was expected to consider whether it will hear Davis’ case at a closed-door conference on Friday.
Josh Sorbe, a spokesperson for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats, wrote on X, “The triple-divorced homophobe Kim Davis is back at the Supreme Court today to try preaching ‘sanctity of marriage’ and block LGBTQ+ folks’ right to marry. She’ll lose again, and she’ll hopefully begin to reflect within.”
Actor John Barrowman wrote on X, “This B**** Kim Davis who has been married FOUR TIMES, thinks she has the right and moral judgment to challenge my marriage to my husband … and other loving couples out there in the Supreme Court.”
Davis divorced in 1994, then in 2006 and again in 2008, and she has since remarried, according to records obtained by U.S. News & World Report.
Why It Matters
In 2015, the Supreme Court issued a decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, ruling that same-sex couples had the right to marry.
Four justices dissented in the decision. Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito remain on the Court. Thomas is the only one who has since called for the ruling to be overturned.
What To Know
Davis is asking the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court’s ruling ordering her to pay $360,000 in damages and attorney’s fees to a couple whom she denied a marriage license. The writ for certiorari also asks the justices to overturn the Obergefell ruling.
“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,” her attorneys wrote.
Davis defied court orders to issue marriage licenses until a federal judge jailed her for contempt of court in September 2015. She was released after her office issued the licenses on her behalf, but removed her name from the form.
The state of Kentucky later enacted a law removing the names of all county clerks from marriage licenses.
Davis was sued by two men residing in Rowan County, Kentucky, in 2015 after she denied issuing them a marriage license. Their attorneys argue, “Davis is liable in her individual capacity to respondents for damages because she engaged in state action that violated their constitutional rights.”
What People Are Saying
Mathew D. Staver, Anita L. Staver, Horatio G. Mihet and Daniel J. Schmid, attorneys for Kim Davis, in a writ for certiorari to the Supreme Court: “Davis could not affix her name to a marriage of same-sex couples because it violates her core religious beliefs. In her sincere belief, the endorsement of her name and authorization equates to approval and agreement.”
Michael J. Gartland, Joseph D. Buckles, William Powell, Kelsi Brown Corkran and Samuel P. Siegel, attorneys for respondents, in a brief: “Immediately following Obergefell, petitioner Kim Davis did exactly what the Court said was forbidden: she made it the official policy of the Rowan County Clerk’s office to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples, based on her personal objection to same-sex marriage.”
What Happens Next
The Supreme Court has yet to announce whether it will hear Davis’ case.
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