Kim Davis faces 'crippling' legal fees after Supreme Court defeat

[Soen Eber]

Kim Davis faces ‘crippling’ legal fees after Supreme Court defeat

The Supreme Court’s refusal to hear Kim Davis’s appeal matters because it quietly reaffirms the principle that public officials cannot use personal religious beliefs to deny others their constitutional rights.
The decision leaves Obergefell v. Hodges—the landmark 2015 ruling guaranteeing marriage equality—untouched, signaling that despite the Court’s conservative shift, same-sex marriage remains settled law.

The Supreme Court’s refusal to intervene leaves intact a series of rulings by the Eastern District of Kentucky and the Sixth Circuit holding Davis personally liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for denying marriage licenses in defiance of court orders.
A 2023 jury awarded $100,000 in damages to Ermold and Moore; later fee awards brought the total to more than $360,000.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

 

[Cindy Claveau]

awww.

Anyway.

 

[Beebo Brink]

The fight against gay marriage is not over, but I'll take this win.

 

[CronoCloud Creeggan]

Kim Davis faces ‘crippling’ legal fees after Supreme Court defeat

Kim Davis faces ‘crippling’ legal fees after Supreme Court defeat

Oh good, I get to do the thing again:

 

[Free]

RE: Davis' debt.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I'm willing to bet, though, that her costs and damages end up covered by wealthy right-wing sponsors and by smaller donations from the public.

 

[Zaida Gearbox]

This whole thing confuses me - I thought she wasn't a clerk anymore? I thought she got voted out. So, what's she fighting for? Plus how many times has she been married? But, she's somehow the champion for "Biblical marriage?"

 

[Innula Zenovka]

This whole thing confuses me - I thought she wasn't a clerk anymore? I thought she got voted out. So, what's she fighting for? Plus how many times has she been married? But, she's somehow the champion for "Biblical marriage?"

I think this indicates her backers' strategy -- keep on using the courts to try to chip away at the legal basis for Obergefell until something gives.

While virtually all of the focus on Davis’ appeal was aimed at her request to overturn Obergefell, the bulk of case actually dealt with a series of more technical questions. In appealing the damages verdict against her, the former clerk argued that the First Amendment’s religious protections should shield her from legal liability, particularly since she is no longer a public official. The 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals rejected that argument.

Mat Staver, the founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, the legal group that represented Davis, said the former clerk would now face “crippling monetary damages based on nothing more than purported hurt feelings.”

“Like the abortion decision in Roe v. Wade, Obergefell was egregiously wrong from the start,” Staver said. “We will continue to work to overturn Obergefell. It is not a matter of if, but when the Supreme Court will overturn Obergefell.”

CNN: Supreme Court declines to revisit landmark same-sex marriage precedent

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

I'm willing to bet, though, that her costs and damages end up covered by wealthy right-wing sponsors and by smaller donations from the public.

I'm actually willing to bet she profited off this mess because of all her backers. ...sadly.

Still, I'm celebrating the rare occurrence of the supreme court doing the right thing.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Interesting view on why Obergefell is more secure than Roe vs Wade

11.12.25

Gay marriage, 1; abortion, 0

judithlevine.substack.com

Why did same-sex marriage sail through Congress with barely a headwind, while reproductive liberty continues to meet typhoons of opposition — or at best, lose momentum and go nowhere?

The reason: While same-sex marriage upholds the family, abortion’s principal job — its superpower — is to free women, and the sex they have, from it. This is an uncomfortable fact for some reproductive rights activists, who try to shoehorn abortion into the conservative arguments that support marriage.

 

[Jopsy Pendragon]

Good.

People who put themselves into positions where they get to create shit just to delight in watching it roll downhill onto others... deserve to be relocated to a nearby pit and have that same shit pile back up on them as they seeth for a lifetime of impotent rage, suffering the consequences of their deranged and delusional ego.

 

[Rose Karuna]

I keep saying, we really need a tiny violin emoji!

 

[Casey Pelous]

This whole thing confuses me - I thought she wasn't a clerk anymore? I thought she got voted out. So, what's she fighting for? Plus how many times has she been married? But, she's somehow the champion for "Biblical marriage?"

She's courageously fighting for what all the right-wing hangers-on are fighting for: unaudited donations.

 

[Khamon]

can has this one in our current emoji offerings

would love to have a small, like half-a-dozen, user emoji collection here

 

[Free]

Emoji collections that have a violin without a bow are just badly designed guitars and should be outlawed.

 

[Cindy Claveau]

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

Kim Davis faces ‘crippling’ legal fees after Supreme Court defeat

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Scientists at Loughborough University create 'world's smallest violin'

The violin is smaller than a human hair and has "laid the groundwork" for future research.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Free]

Scientists at Loughborough University create 'world's smallest violin'

The violin is smaller than a human hair and has "laid the groundwork" for future research.

www.bbc.co.uk

Can we afford to commission these guys to design an emoji for us?