Ten years after the Supreme Court extended
marriage rights to same-sex couples nationwide, the justices this fall will consider for the first time whether to take up
a case that explicitly asks them to overturn that decision.
Kim Davis, the former Kentucky county clerk who was
jailed for six days in 2015 after refusing to issue marriage licenses to a gay couple on religious grounds, is appealing a $100,000 jury verdict for emotional damages plus $260,000 for attorneys fees.
In a
petition for writ of certiorari filed last month, Davis argues First Amendment protection for free exercise of religion immunizes her from personal liability for the denial of marriage licenses.
More fundamentally, she claims the high court's decision in Obergefell v Hodges -- extending marriage rights for same-sex couples under the 14th Amendment's
due process protections -- was "egregiously wrong."
"The mistake must be corrected," wrote Davis' attorney Mathew Staver in the petition. He calls Justice Anthony Kennedy's
majority opinion in Obergefell "legal fiction."
