Source: The Volokh Conspiracy
by Ilya Somin
“[Davis’s] case has multiple flaws as a potential vehicle for the Obergefell issue. Among other things, that question is an appendage to a dubious religious-liberty claim, under which Davis claims that government officials have a First Amendment right to refuse to issue marriage licenses to couples they disapprove of on religious grounds. It’s worth noting, here, that some people have religious objections to interracial marriages and interfaith marriages, among other possibilities. Does a clerk with religious objections have a constitutional right to refuse to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple or to one involving an intermarriage between a Jew and a Christian? The question answers itself. … In the private sector, I think there often is a First Amendment free speech or religious liberty right to refuse to provide services …. Public employees engaged in their official duties are a very different matter.” (08/13/25)