Ten years after marriage equality was enshrined in law by the U.S. Supreme Court, the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges decision (2015) finds itself facing renewed legal scrutiny. On August 11, 2025, Kim Davis, a former Kentucky county clerk who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, filed a formal petition asking the high court to overturn the ruling entirely.
Davis’s petition, submitted via a writ of certiorari, labels the Obergefell decision “egregiously wrong” and argues that it infringes upon her First Amendment rights to religious freedom and free speech. Her legal team, Liberty Counsel, asserts this case should be revisited, and potentially reversed, reflecting a broader conservative push to reassess established civil rights precedents.
This move doesn’t occur in a vacuum. Earlier in 2025, state lawmakers in Idaho, Oklahoma, Iowa, and others introduced resolutions urging the Supreme Court to reconsider the Obergefell ruling, though most have stalled or failed. The Southern Baptist Convention also officially endorsed efforts to roll back the precedent in June.
Meanwhile, public opinion remains strongly supportive of marriage equality. Gallup polling indicates that support has grown from 60% in 2015 to about 70% in 2025, even as support among Republicans has declined.
What happens next? The Supreme Court has yet to decide whether it will hear Davis’s case. Legal experts suggest that the Court may decline to revisit Obergefell, but if it does agree to hear the case, the ruling could represent the most significant challenge to marriage equality in a decade.
