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Journey with me for a moment back to 2015 (I know, if only). The Supreme Court handed down its landmark decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, thus legalizing same-sex marriage across the country. And it all happened just in time for Pride, to boot! It was a joyous BFD, and the result of decades of fighting for justice and equality. This is America, though, where people still have the right to be a bigot. Kentucky county clerk Karen Kim Davis staged a protest to marriage equality by refusing to issue marriage licenses after the Obergefell v. Hodges decision came down. She was a civil servant refusing to do her job, and ended up spending five nights in jail for the offense. She eventually lost reelection as clerk, and years later some of the couples she denied licenses to sued her for damages. The couples won, and in 2023 Davis was ordered to pay over $300,000. Davis appealed, hoping for a favorable outcome from the current uber conservative Supreme Court. Only guess what — SCOTUS just quietly declined the petition to hear her case.
Davis, 60, became infamous a decade ago when, in the wake of the decision, she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples on the basis of her religious beliefs. She was found in contempt of court and spent five nights in jail.
One of the couples, David Ermold and David Moore, later sued Davis for emotional distress. In 2023, she was ordered to pay… $100,000 in damages and $260,000 in lawyers’ fees to the couples to whom she denied marriage licenses. However, she appealed the decision all the way to the Supreme Court, saying she believed she was protected under the First Amendment and that the Obergefell v. Hodges was “egregiously wrong” and should be overturned.
The nine Supreme Court justices considered Davis’ petition in a private conference this month. Four justices would have had to vote to take on Davis’ case, however, they declined the petition. No comment was issued by the court on the decision.
Legal experts did not anticipate the justices would take on Davis’ case; however, the request alone caused alarm among some in the LGBTQ community, given the court’s recent conservative rulings.
In June 2025, the justices ruled 6-3 in favor of upholding Tennessee’s ban on the use of puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender minors. Then, a week later, the same majority ruled that parents have a right to opt their children out of school instruction that includes LGBTQ themes.
When Davis was released from her five-day stint in jail in 2015, she was embraced by several conservative politicians, including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who used her case in campaign messaging.
However, Donald Trump, who was, at the time, campaigning for his first term as president, was more measured on the topic, saying that Davis would “have to go with” the Supreme Court’s ruling, adding, “The decision’s been made, and that is the law of the land.”
Davis remained unrepentant upon her release, telling reporters, “God’s moral law conflicts with my job duties. You can’t be separated from something that’s in your heart and in your soul.”
Yeah, for anyone interested in a refresher on the moral law of God Davis follows, as it pertains to marriage, I direct you to this chart on her adultery/divorce history. May Davis return to being an immemorable blip in the history of marriage equality. (Or as Sally Field’s son Sam Greisman refers to her, “Not this hideous bitch again.”) I don’t think any of us were surprised that a case like this appealed up to the Supreme Court — that is, after all, what we knew would happen after this SCOTUS overturned Roe v. Wade, with Clarence Thomas basically directing conservative lawyers to do so in his concurring opinion. (Man I wish he’d taken John Oliver’s $1 million a year to go away.) But unlike the legal experts People Mag cites, I am surprised that SCOTUS declined to take up the case. I thought that’s what they were installed to do, and they couldn’t get to four yea votes to hear it? I’m not complaining, mind you! I’m just a bit dumbfounded. Thomas must have wanted to push it through, did he have two others with him? I guess my bigger question is, what’s the larger play here; the calculus for SCOTUS to decline… for now.
Ya don't say. #KimDavis #DoYourJob http://t.co/NgGeAOVls7 pic.twitter.com/BpdMGPQLzj
— eddie outlaw (@TheEddieOutlaw) September 2, 2015
Not this hideous bitch again https://t.co/hQLWxiUQoh
— sam greisman (@SAMGREIS) August 11, 2025
I hope this bigot goes back under the rock she slithered out from. From what I’ve read, when she refused to issue the marriage license, she actually could have just given it to another colleague to take care of. That’s all she had to do if she thought it was against her religion. But no, we had to keep seeing her repulsive face and learn about her seedy past.
If you don’t agree with what your job requires you to do, get another job.
IIRC, she actually had her name removed from the official forms so she wouldn’t be associated. There were some questions about that voiding the legality of the marriage licenses if there was no official seal.
One of that asshole’s big money billionaires is Peter Thiel, a gay man. Some checks were cut. No big mystery.
gosh i hate this woman, it was so nice to see her shot down (for whatever reason). the headline i saw yesterday said something about financial ruin, and i just laughed. there are times when i hate how uncaring and unempathetic this ‘regime’ is making me, and times when i just don’t care. if your religious beliefs interfere with your job, get a new job, especially when it’s tax funded.
I’m also surprised.
The problem is- this case is fraught and messy. Bigot Kim Davis is a super messy adulteress.
A “cleaner” case – the corrupt, christo-fascist majority court may very well take up.
And then next, interracial marriage.
bigots don’t give up.
I think it’s clear the conservatives trying to overturn Obergefell still want to do so – they’ll just pick a more sympathetic case than this one. Once Roe was overturned, there’s no such thing as “settled law”.
If only she could commit to her husband(s) as strongly as she did her hair style.
Yeah she definitely should “divorce” that hairdo.
I think a little fear is spreading. A lot of the Maga crowd is starting to figure out that if they want to keep their elected positions, they need to move away ( see MTG , an opportunist). I think some court people don’t want the American people to start talking about term limits. Age requirements, and maybe lets cut some of the free they get?
I agree with what Mel posted! I think the SC has been exposed as having facilitated fascism and maybe they are pumping the brakes a bit. Don’t get me wrong they are still fascists but they are trying to deescalate. Their decision to make DT immune from prosecution for “official acts” is what led us here. They were instrumental to the implementation of P2025 and the downfall of democracy. It really doesn’t benefit MAGA to decide this right now.
They will eventually decide it, because they want to declare gay people “illegals” and put them in camps. But there’s too much focus on them right now. They need to chill for a minute.
As for Kim I don’t even think she can get a good go fund me going because of her sketchy past but mostly (and let’s face it they’d overlook her history if she looked like Sydney Sweeney) because of how she looks. I don’t see MAGA giving their $5 contribution to get her out of debt or whatever. No one cares about her and MAGA hates women.
There are many cases where God just got it wrong and the inside just doesn’t match the outside. But in this case, I have to say God was spot on when he gave Kim that face. The hair and eyebrows are just icing on the cake – as if we needed any more evidentiary proof that she has zero gay friends. Get wrecked!
Bïtch needs to do something with those BTK eyebrows