Will the US Supreme Court ban same-sex marriage?

Read time: 3 mins

In brief…

• The Supreme Court is being urged to review the 2015 Obergefell v Hodges ruling, which made same-sex marriage legal, and was widely celebrated under Barack Obama’s administration.
• Experts say that the case, brought by former Kentucky court clerk Kim Davis, is unlikely to reach the Supreme Court, but considering the power of US conservatives under Trump, The News Agents say nothing is off the table.
• Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel describe Trump and his followers as an army on the march, and believe there will be pressure on the Supreme Court to review the ruling.

What’s the story?

Could America ban same-sex marriage? It's not out of the question, with a new legal case heading to the Supreme Court to consider precisely that.

The case is being brought by Kim Davis, who was jailed for six days in 2015 for refusing to issue marriage licenses to a gay couple while working as a Kentucky court clerk. Ten years on, she is fighting the court ruling at the time, saying she should have been protected under the First Amendment to exercise her religious beliefs.

She also claims the Obergefell v Hodges ruling of 2015, which made same-sex marriage legal, was "egregiously wrong", with her lawyer claiming it was a mistake which "must be corrected".

The case seems unlikely to succeed, however, with courts arguing that she was jailed for state action, which is not protected under the First Amendment. Trump and his administration is yet to comment on the new legal proceedings.

It is now over three years since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and ended constitutional abortion rights for women in the US, and in Trump's America, you never know what's coming next.

Has America gone backwards on LGBTQ+ rights since 2015?

Jon Sopel recalls the sense of progress in America, celebrated by the administration of Barack Obama, when same-sex marriage was legalised in 2015.

“Kim Davis' case was huge when I first moved to America, and it garnered immense attention,” he says.

He adds it was Davis' case which helped influence the Supreme Court in passing the Obergefell v Hodges ruling.

“I remember that night at the White House, it was lit up in the colours of the rainbow, suggesting there was a real sense of liberation, and that something momentous had happened in America when that law changed.”

Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Donald Trump has enacted several anti-LGBTQ+ actions in his second term as president. These include shutting down an LGBTQ+ suicide helpline and removing almost all mentions of queer and HIV content and resources from the White House website.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled that children in US schools must be able to opt out of listening to any storybooks being read which include gay or transgender characters.

What’s The News Agents’ take?

This is not the first time the idea of revisiting the Obergefell v Hodges ruling – it was suggested in 2022 by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, it should also revisit previous decisions – including the legal protections given to same-sex relationships.

“I'm not a fan of the 'slippery slope' argument, and I remember thinking it was unconscionable that Roe v Wade would be overturned in our lifetimes,” says Emily Maitlis.

“After it happened, a lot of people were asking if same-sex marriage comes next, or does this mean contraception comes next? Where does this end?”

She says many people in the US consider the conservative movement stronger today under Donald Trump than it has ever been, now able to undo everything it has always stood against.

“If you are an army and you are advancing quickly, you carry on the advance,” says Jon.

“You can be sure there'll be an awful lot of pressure being put on the Supreme Court to take up this case.”

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