newsletter 11/10/25

ICAP Defeats Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis’s Petition Urging Supreme Court to Eliminate Right to Same-Sex Marriage

This morning, with no noted dissents, the Supreme Court denied former Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis’s petition seeking to overrule Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark decision recognizing marriage equality as a constitutional right.  ICAP represented the plaintiff same-sex couple in defeating Supreme Court review.

In 2015, in defiance of Obergefell, Davis refused to issue a marriage license to David Ermold and David Moore, based on her religious objection to same-sex marriage.  After a jury awarded Ermold and Moore damages for Davis’s violation of their clearly established constitutional rights, Davis announced that she intended to appeal the decision on the ground that Obergefell was wrongly decided.  

At that point, ICAP entered the case to defend the verdict on appeal.  Following a masterful oral argument by ICAP Senior Counsel Bill Powell earlier this year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled in the couple’s favor, prompting Davis to ask the Supreme Court to review the case.  Our brief in opposition argued that Davis failed to present the Court with any issue worthy of the Court’s consideration given that Obergefell is settled law and that Davis’s conduct clearly violated Ermold and Moore’s constitutional right to marry.  

The Supreme Court’s rejection of Davis’s petition is a win for the hundreds of thousands of same-sex couples who have built their families and lives around the right to marry, and for all Americans who believe that marriage equality must remain a core constitutional value in our country.  

Your financial support makes our work safeguarding constitutional rights possible – we are grateful and hope you’ll join us today in celebrating this victory.  Love wins!