The Supreme Court has refused to reconsider the 2015 decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, dismissing an appeal from a former Kentucky county clerk who opposed issuing licenses to same-sex couples following the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling. Kim Davis, the former clerk, faces substantial financial penalties for denying a marriage license to a same-sex couple. The court provided no reasoning for its decision.

Davis’s legal team cited Justice Clarence Thomas’s calls to overturn the same-sex marriage precedent, though Thomas was one of four dissenters in 2015. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito also opposed the ruling at the time. Roberts has remained silent on the issue since his dissent, while Alito has criticized the decision but stated he does not advocate its reversal.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who joined the court after the 2015 case, previously argued the court should correct past errors, as seen in the 2022 abortion rights ruling. Davis’s attorneys claimed her case warranted review, noting she was jailed and fined $100,000 for refusing to issue licenses based on religious beliefs. The appeal, though unlikely to succeed, sparked speculation about the court’s conservative majority revisiting landmark decisions, particularly after the 2022 abortion ruling.