Overview
- Justices met in a private conference Friday to consider Davis’s petition, with an announcement on whether they will take the case possible as soon as Monday.
- Davis seeks review of lower-court rulings that held her personally liable after she refused in 2015 to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, resulting in roughly $360,000 in damages and fees.
- The 6th Circuit rejected her First Amendment and immunity defenses, holding that a government official cannot deny citizens’ constitutional rights based on personal beliefs.
- While Davis also urges the court to reconsider Obergefell v. Hodges, legal experts note the case chiefly raises narrower questions that make it an unlikely vehicle to revisit the marriage-rights precedent.
- Even if the court grants review, the Respect for Marriage Act would continue to require federal and interstate recognition of same-sex marriages already performed.