Overview

• Kim Davis filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in July 2025 asking the Supreme Court to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges and to bar enforcement of lower-court awards totaling about $360,000 in damages and legal fees.
• She contends that the First Amendment’s free exercise clause should exempt her from personal liability for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses on religious grounds.
• A Sixth Circuit panel recently ruled that Davis cannot invoke the Free Exercise Clause to avoid liability, affirming orders of $100,000 in emotional damages and roughly $260,000 in attorneys’ fees.
• Legal experts view the petition’s prospects as slim given historically low certiorari grant rates and strong adherence to stare decisis among the current justices.
• The case has galvanized conservative efforts to revisit substantive due process precedents following Dobbs and spurred states and advocacy groups to prepare legislative and political responses.