TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Azya Thornton on May 12, 2025

Former Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether she was protected by the First Amendment when she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples nearly a decade ago, her attorney says. The News-Enterprise reports that the move follows the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision to deny a request to rehear her case, stating that the panel of judges who ruled against Davis in March had already fully considered it. Davis is challenging a federal jury’s decision that she must pay $100,000 to a couple she denied a marriage license in 2015. Davis, then the Rowan County clerk, made national headlines for refusing to issue marriage licenses to several same-sex couples, citing her religious beliefs. U.S. District Judge David Bunning jailed Davis for five days for contempt after she failed to comply with a court order. In 2024, Bunning ordered Davis to pay $260,104 in legal fees and expenses to attorneys who represented one of the couples.