Kim Davis, the former Kentucky county clerk who became a national flashpoint a decade ago for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, is now asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its landmark 2015 decision recognizing marriage equality.

Attorneys for the ex-Rowan County Clerk have formally petitioned the nation’s highest court to hear her case. Justice Clarence Thomas, in his concurring opinion striking down Roe v. Wade in 2022, wrote that the Court should reconsider certain cases based on the same precedent established in Roe.

“In future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell,” Justice Thomas wrote, referring to cases involving contraception, same-sex relations, and same-sex marriage. “Because any substantive due process decision is ‘demonstrably erroneous,’ we have a duty to ‘correct the error’ established in those precedents.”

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ABC News reports that “the justices this fall will consider for the first time whether to take up a case that explicitly asks them to overturn” the Obergefell  decision.

Kim Davis, “who was jailed for six days in 2015 after refusing to issue marriage licenses to a gay couple on religious grounds, is appealing a $100,000 jury verdict for emotional damages plus $260,000 for attorneys fees,” ABC notes. “In a petition for writ of certiorari filed last month, Davis argues First Amendment protection for free exercise of religion immunizes her from personal liability for the denial of marriage licenses.”

While some legal experts doubt the Supreme Court will take up Davis’s case, it remains a possibility, especially given the current sentiment in the country, which is seeing some erosion in support for same-sex marriage among the right.

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As NCRM reported in May, public support for marriage equality remains robust at 68 percent—ten points higher than just a month after the 2015 Obergefell decision, though slightly below the all-time high of 71 percent. While Democratic support has continued to climb, Republican backing has declined sharply.

Nearly nine in ten Democrats (88%) say marriages between same-sex couples should be recognized by law as valid, according to Gallup, but less than half that—just 41 percent—of Republicans agree. That’s a fourteen-point drop from the highest level recorded for GOP voters, 55 percent, in 2021 and 2022.

According to the Movement Advancement Project (MAP), as of 2022, 35 states have some form of ban on same-sex marriage still on the books, including constitutional amendments and state laws. If Obergefell were overturned, many if not most of those could go back into effect.

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Image by Ted Eytan via Flickr and a CC license

A top former Trump White House national security official is warning that the President’s federalization of the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police and deployment of the National Guard and other federal agents to the nation’s capital is a “major step” toward martial law.

Olivia Troye is a Republican who worked at the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), the United States Department of Energy Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, and the Department of Homeland Security Office of Intelligence and Analysis, as well as serving as Vice President Mike Pence’s Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Advisor.

During a nearly 90-minute press conference on Monday, Trump threatened to also deploy to D.C. other U.S. Armed Forces and threatened that other major Democratic-run cities he sees as crime-ridden could be next.

Crime in Washington, D.C. is at a 30-year low, with double digit declines last year and this year, and is not in the top ten of violent or dangerous U.S. cities.

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“That Trump presser wasn’t about security or safety,” Troye wrote on Monday. “It was a major step towards martial law, something he’s always wanted.”

She also posed the following questions related to the President’s announcement:

“In 2020, FBI & other federal law enforcement warned against misusing them in DC—they’re fine with it now?”

“Why deploy the National Guard to DC today, but not on Jan 6, the most violent moment in years for the city?”

Brian Schwalb, the Attorney General for the District of Columbia wrote: “The Administration’s actions are unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful. There is no crime emergency in the District of Columbia. Violent crime in DC reached historic 30-year lows last year, and is down another 26% so far this year. We are considering all of our options and will do what is necessary to protect the rights and safety of District residents.”

Others have raised the specter of martial law and authoritarianism.

“Trump watched the insurrection from the White House and thought it was fine, but now he wants to put DC under martial law,” noted Naveed Shah, political director of the progressive veterans group Common Defense.

“Make no mistake: federalizing the police and deploying the National Guard to DC isn’t about a non-existent crime wave. It’s an authoritarian move to crush dissent and strip Americans of their right to self-govern. This is a chilling precedent for every city in America,” wrote attorney Andrew Weinstein, a Visiting Fellow for the Syracuse University Institute for Democracy, Journalism, and Citizenship.

In response to a video clip of Trump threatening to duplicate these efforts in New York City, Baltimore, and Oakland, Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz wrote: “The road to authoritarianism is littered with people telling you you’re overreacting.”

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Political scientist and political risk researcher Ian Bremmer noted that President Trump is “gradually normalizing use of the national guard in liberal cities. had he done this in his first term, people would be outraged and take to the streets. now not so much. paves the way for using the national guard at a more strategically important time. say, during elections.”

“The president teasing martial [law] for multiple American cities is a dangerous and unlawful power grab,” warned Constitutional Law Professor Anthony Michael Kreis. “The Anglo-American constitutional tradition has rejected this kind of arbitrary rule as far back as the Petition of Right in 1628. This is the stuff of a wannabe tinpot Stuart king.”

Democratic Illinois Governor JB Pritzker took another tack: mocking the President.

See his remarks and watch the video below or at this link.

Donald, thanks for the compliment!

Let’s not lie to the public, you and I both know you have no authority to take over Chicago.

By the way, where are the Epstein files? https://t.co/PhikjsUkZ2

— JB Pritzker (@JBPritzker) August 11, 2025

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Image via Reuters

During his nearly 90-minute Monday morning press conference declaring an “emergency” and announcing that he is federalizing the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police force despite crime being at a 30-year low, President Donald Trump appeared to confuse the U.S. state of Alaska with Russia—twice—leading critics to again express concerns.

“This is a tragic emergency,” Trump told reporters packed into the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room. “And it’s embarrassing for me to be up here.”

“You know, I’m going to see Putin, I’m going to Russia on Friday,” Trump said, stressing “Putin” and “Russia.”

“I don’t like being up here talking about how unsafe and how dirty and disgusting this once-beautiful capital was. With graffiti all over the walls,” he complained.

But the President’s remark about going to “Russia” was incorrect. The meeting on Friday with the Russian President is scheduled to be in Alaska, not Russia.

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The United States bought Alaska from Russia in 1867.

“The reason Putin wants to meet in Alaska is because he wants it back,” noted The Washington Spectator’s Dave Troy, a historian and researcher who has written extensively about Russia, on Saturday. “He thinks because it’s former Russian territory he’s psyop-ing and dominating Trump.”

Critics, some of whom described the event as “rambling,” blasted the President.

“Trump is going to Alaska on Friday, which the Kremlin has been demanding back recently. Maybe that’s the ‘territorial concession’ Trump keeps ranting about,” observed political commentator and Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky.

“He’s going to Russia? This doddering old man has no idea where he is or what he’s talking about,” snarked U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell.

“Looking forward to all the articles about Trump’s cognitive decline,” wrote the political commentary account Blue Georgia.

“Since there are so many reporters in the briefing room listening to Trump ramble and rant and gaffe and dissemble, I assume there are going to be tons of stories about how mentally compromised the United States President is,” remarked The Bulwark publisher Sarah Longwell.

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“Russia has a tremendous advantage with its ‘Alaska is ours!’ operation it did not have with its ‘Crimea is ours!’ operation. In 2014, the Ukrainian government was unsteady but loyal to Ukraine. In 2025, the U.S. government is chaotic and headed by Trump who is loyal to Putin,” noted political scholar Dr. Michael MacKay.

“Russian and Ukrainian social media are lighting up with Trump’s revealing announcement: ‘I’m going to Russia on Friday to meet with Putin.’ They know Alaska is Russian America to Moscow imperialists. The Putin regime is looking good to win another stunning victory over the USA,” MacKay added.

“Trump announced, “I’m going to Russia” on Friday. This is a major foreign policy statement. Flanked by Hegseth & Bondi, who barely flinched, Trump declared an enormous diplomatic change. But it’s wrong. He’s going to Alaska. It’s not part of Russia (yet),” wrote Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Laurie Garrett. “Hope Sen. Lisa Murkowski is paying attention.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

Trump: It’s embarrassing. I’m going to see Putin. I’m going to Russia on Friday.

(Alaska) pic.twitter.com/ET7e6zMS3c

— Acyn (@Acyn) August 11, 2025

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