1 of 3 | The Supreme Court is seen in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. Justices will decide Friday whether to hear a case seeking to overturn the court’s 2015 ruling legalizing same-sex marriage. Photo by Annabelle Gordon/UPI | License Photo
The Supreme Court is expected to decide Friday whether to take up an appeal by a former Kentucky county clerk, Kim Davis, seeking to overturn the 2015 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage.
The high court justices will consider the case in a closed-door meeting to determine what cases they’ll take up in the coming months. They’ll cast secret votes on dozens of cases, the results of which will likely be made public Monday.
Davis, the former county clerk in Rowan County, Ky., was ordered to jail in 2015 for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. She said doing so was in direct violation of her religious beliefs.
Davis is now asking the now-Republican-leaning Supreme Court to overturn the 2015 Obergefell vs. Hodges ruling on the grounds that the high court’s decision based on the 14th Amendment’s due process protections was “legal fiction,” ABC News reported. She also said her own legal troubles for denying marriage licenses violated her First Amendment right to free exercise of religion.
CNN reported that the Supreme Court justices haven’t shown a strong interest in overturning the landmark 2015 ruling despite leaning more conservative 10 years after the initial decision.
“Obergefell is a precedent of the court that is entitled to the respect afforded by the doctrine of stare decisis,” Justice Samuel Alito said during a Washington, D.C., lecture.
“Stare decisis” is a Latin term describing the importance of precedent.
James Obergefell, whose lawsuit led to the legalization of same-sex marriage, told CNN he’s “very concerned” about the outcome of Davis’ case.
“At this point, I do not trust the Supreme Court,” he said.
