Will the Court Reconsider Same-Sex Marriage?

Last week, the Supreme Court began reviewing a petition that could bring the question of same-sex marriage back before the justices for the first time in nearly a decade. The case challenges the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, and has the potential to reshape one of the most consequential social rulings in modern American history.

If taken up, this case would be among the most consequential decisions the high Court has heard in our lifetime, perhaps second only to Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade, the ruling that effectively legalized abortion. It may even prove as significant as the Kennedy decision, which overturned the Lemon Test, a 1971 standard that for decades restricted the free exercise of religion in public life.

Should the Court agree to hear it, this case could once again shake the ground in favor of justice and families. But first, it must be accepted and placed on the docket.

It’s worth noting that confidence in the Court’s willingness to side with Kim Davis’s petition is remarkably high. Yet how can confidence be so strong when the decision to legalize same-sex marriage was issued only ten years ago?

It’s true, most Supreme Court precedents take decades to be overturned. What makes this case particularly unique is who is bringing it forward. Kim Davis, once the defendant accused of violating the Court’s same-sex marriage ruling, is now the petitioner asking the justices to reconsider that very precedent. It’s rare for a figure at the center of a past controversy to reemerge years later in a position that could reshape the ruling itself. When Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, for instance, it wasn’t Jane Roe’s own case that reversed the decision, it was a separate challenge from the state of Mississippi.

Confidence that Obergefell could be overturned stems largely from the current makeup of the Court and its recent track record. Since 2022, the justices have reversed three major precedents spanning the past fifty years. One was the reversal of Chevron Deference, which returned the interpretation of ambiguous laws to the judiciary rather than unelected bureaucrats. Next came Dobbs, which overturned Roe v. Wade and restored authority over the issue of life in the womb to the states. Finally, the Kennedy decision dismantled the Lemon Test, removing a restrictive standard that had long constrained religious liberty and misapplied the First Amendment.

With these three historic rulings in just three years, there is reason to hope that if the high Court agrees to hear Kim Davis’s case, it may overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, restoring the legal foundation of families in America once again.

This issue has never truly been about “who loves whom,” as LGBTQ activists often frame it. It has been about uprooting basic biological truth by convincing the public that there is no difference between a man and a woman, thereby distorting the image of God and rebelling against His Word.

We must pray that this case is taken up, and that it is ruled favorably, for the sake of truth, justice, and future families across our nation.