SCOTUS weighs whether to hear appeal seeking to overturn marriage equality
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People walk by the Stonewall Monument on June 26 in New York City. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
The Supreme Court is meeting Friday to decide whether to take up a long-shot appeal that could prompt reconsidering the landmark decision that established marriage equality.
Why it matters: If four justices agree to hear the appeal, it would be the first challenge to same-sex marriage before SCOTUS in a decade.
- After Friday's closed-door conference, the court could announce as early as Monday whether it will formally weigh the appeal.
Driving the news: Kim Davis, a former county clerk in Kentucky, refused to issue a gay couple a marriage license in 2015.
- Her appeal claims that the SCOTUS decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which said marriage equality is constitutionally protected, was "egregiously wrong" and "deeply damaging."
- She was ordered to pay $360,000 to the couple in damages and fees, which she has been unsuccessfully appealing for years.
- Lower courts have repeatedly rejected the argument that "Davis found herself with a choice between her religious beliefs and her job."
State of play: In the decade since enshrining marriage equality, the Supreme Court has tilted more conservative.
- Justice Clarence Thomas has repeatedly said the high court should reconsider its ruling on marriage equality.
- However, it's unclear if other conservative leaning members of the court are as interested in revisiting the ruling.
The other side: "There's good reason for the Supreme Court to deny review in this case rather than unsettle something so positive for couples, children, families, and the larger society as marriage equality," GLAD Law, an LGBTQ+ legal services and civil rights organization, said in an October statement.
The big picture: More than two dozen U.S. states have trigger laws that would limit marriage equality if the Supreme Court overturned its legalization of gay marriage.
- Republican lawmakers this year have backed ballot measures to undermine same-sex couples' right to marry.
- Watchdog group Common Cause warned last year that Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation's blueprint for Trump's second term, promoted undermining marriage equality and reinforcing "a narrow right-wing Christian view of families."
Reality check: Support for same-sex marriage was near a record high last year at 69%, per Gallup.
Go deeper: Here's where same-sex marriage would be banned without Obergefell
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that GLAD Law (not GLAAD) issued a statement about the marriage equality case.
