A Christian woman in the US, who was briefly jailed over her stance on same-sex couples, has filed a petition demanding that the Supreme Court reverse its decision to permit same-sex marriages.
Kim Davis is a former Kentucky county clerk who made headlines in 2015 when she refused to issue a marriage licence to a gay couple on grounds of religious conscience.
Davis was jailed for five days and required to pay $100,000 to the couple for emotional distress, and another $260,000 for their legal fees.
The incident occurred shortly after the Supreme Court effectively declared gay marriage legal across the US via the Obergefell v Hodges case. The 5-4 decision put an end to various state bans on gay marriage, including in Davis’ state of Kentucky.
Now Davis is seeking to overturn that original decision, arguing that the ruling was “egregiously wrong” and “legal fiction”.
A decade on, Davis is still appealing against the $360,000 she was ordered to pay, arguing that the US First Amendment gives her freedom of religion.
Her lawyers, from Liberty Counsel, have gone further saying the Obergefell v Hodges decision must be reversed.
Their legal filing reads, “The mistake must be corrected.
“If ever a case deserved review, the first individual who was thrown in jail post-Obergefell for seeking accommodation for her religious beliefs should be it.
"Davis was jailed, haled before a jury, and now faces crippling monetary damages based on nothing more than purported emotional distress.”
While some experts claim the Supreme Court is unlikely to grant Davis' request, some supporters argue that Davis is essentially asking the court to treat gay marriage in the same way it treats abortion. In other words, since the overturning of Roe v Wade, it should be a matter for the states rather than for the federal government to decide.
