After Davis did not receive the accommodation, a federal judge remanded her to the Carter County Detention Center on September 3, 2015, where she remained for six days. While she was in prison, a deputy clerk removed Davis’ name from the marriage licenses and issued them to three sets of same-sex plaintiffs who filed suit against the Clerk of Rowan County. One set of plaintiffs ended their litigation. But two sets of plaintiffs wanted the name of Kim Davis on their licenses.

Returning to court, they asked Judge David Bunning to hold Davis in contempt, but Gov. Beshear, who refused her original request, responded by saying the licenses were valid without her name. Thus, Davis essentially received the accommodation she sought, and the plaintiffs received the licenses – without her name.

In December 2015, after being sworn in, Gov. Matt Bevin issued a detailed Executive Order granting an accommodation to Davis and all Kentucky clerks to remove their names from the licenses. Then in April 2016, the Kentucky legislature unanimously passed a law removing the names of clerks from marriage licenses. The case should have ended, but two sets of plaintiffs, including David Ermold and David Moore, wanted to mock Davis’ Christian faith.

Ermold and Moore have spent the last 10 years viciously attacking Kim Davis. The two Davids told GQ magazine in December 2015, they had never even discussed getting married before rushing to join the melee outside Davis’ office as she waited for an answer to her religious accommodation request.

They traveled to her office day after day to record themselves harassing her and posting the videos to social media. They bragged to GQ about how their videos made them internet famous. And when their moment of initial fame ended, the men embarked on a targeted campaign to keep themselves in the spotlight by inventing new ways to try to destroy Davis.

They tried to sue to force Davis to put her name on their marriage certificate.

When they failed to win that legal fight, Ermold tried to take Davis’ job by running against her for the Rowan County Clerk position. Davis even helped Ermold complete the paperwork to run against her. Ermold lost in the primary race to another candidate, and their “fame” faded again.

Ironically, even after trying to take Davis’ job, Ermold claimed in court that she had cost him his job. But when Liberty Counsel called his former employer to the stand during trial in 2023, the whole world learned that Ermold’s claim was absolutely untrue.

So, the two Davids changed direction, asking for damages because Davis’ decision to use her lawful religious freedom rights had caused the men “hurt feelings.” Emotional distress, they claimed. No lost wages. No medical treatment. No counseling. Just “hurt” feelings.

Even though the law forbids financial damages over “hurt feelings” with no objective damages when the alleged distress arises because of speech on an issue of public importance, Davis now has a $360,000-dollar judgment hanging over her head.

On July 24, 2025, Liberty Counsel filed a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court requesting the Court to take up her case. The petition presents two issues – that the First Amendment is an absolute defense and Obergefell should be overturned. Four Justices are needed to accept review and five are required for a majority opinion. Chief Justice John Roberts so opposed the Obergefell majority opinion that he read his dissent from the bench – the only time he has done so since joining the High Court. When Justices read their dissent from the bench, it is to emphasize the intensity of that dissent.

“Five lawyers have closed the debate and enacted their own vision of marriage as a matter of constitutional law,” wrote Chief Justice Roberts. “The majority’s decision is an act of will, not legal judgment. The right it announces has no basis in the Constitution or this Court’s precedent.”

Justice Clarence Thomas, who also dissented, noted there would be inevitable conflict between this invented right and religious liberty.

“In our society, marriage is not simply a governmental institution; it is a religious institution as well,” wrote Justice Thomas. “Today’s decision might change the former, but it cannot change the latter. It appears all but inevitable that the two will come into conflict, particularly as individuals and churches are confronted with demands to participate in and endorse civil marriages between same-sex couples.”

As Justice Thomas predicted, conflict arose as Davis stands today as the first victim jailed, sued, and held personally liable post-Obergefell for her sincerely held religious beliefs on marriage. By taking the case, SCOTUS can do two things – affirm religious freedom for all people and also correct the Obergefell mistake by overruling the 2015 opinion. SCOTUS can return the religious and governmental institution of marriage back to the states.

The urgency of this case is even more evident. On August 26, 2025, Ermold and Moore filed a notice in federal district court to begin exploring Davis’ personal assets to see what they can collect to satisfy the judgment. In light of this vindictive development, the High Court should take this case and render justice where justice is due.

The response by Ermold and Moore to Liberty Counsel’s petition is due by October 8, and thus the Justices will be ready to conference the case by the third week of October, at which time they could decide to take up this critically important case.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “David Ermold and David Moore’s decade-long vindictive campaign has sought to personally punish Kim Davis for refusing to violate her faith.The plaintiffs created a shame case by intentionally targeting Davis to get a license with her name to mock her Christian faith. If a Christian can be personally sued, jailed, and held liable for their religious freedom and belief that marriage is the union of one man and one woman, then America’s religious freedom is meaningless. Obergefell was wrongly decided and the Supreme Court should overturn it and return the issue of marriage back to the states.”

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