The U.S. Supreme Court issued a Denial of Cert on the opening day of its term Monday, declining to hear the appeal of a case involving Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. The SCOTUS decision allows a lawsuit against Davis to move forward.
Reuters reports: “Davis had argued that a legal doctrine called qualified immunity protected her from being sued for damages by couples David Ermold and David Moore as well as James Yates and Will Smith. Their case will now move forward.”
In the court’s statement, Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito empathized with Davis’s case and suggested that the marriage equality case Obergefell vs. Hodges must be overturned in order to protect religious freedom.
The AP reports: “Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas wrote for himself and Justice Samuel Alito that while he agreed with the decision not to hear the case, it was a ‘stark reminder of the consequences’ of the court’s 2015 decision in the same-sex marriage case. Because of that case, he wrote, ‘those with sincerely held religious beliefs concerning marriage will find it increasingly difficult to participate in society without running afoul’ of the case ‘and its effect on other antidiscrimination laws.'”
