Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who served jail time for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses, lost a legal bid to remove a contempt of court order on Wednesday.

Davis gained notoriety last year for her decision to stop issuing marriage licenses, saying it would violate her Christian beliefs, after the landmark U.S. Supreme Court Obergefell v. Hodges ruling legalizing marriage equality. Her actions sparked national outrage and served as a rallying point for advocates who claimed to be defending religious freedom.

Four couples represented by the American Civil Liberties Union sued Davis in federal court, and a judge found her in contempt of court and jailed the Rowan County Clerk for five days after she flouted a court order to issue marriage licenses.

Davis sought to remove the contempt of court order, but a Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decision on Wednesday kept in place the district court ruling, meaning the order will remain on her record.

The three-judge panel also granted Davis’ motion to vacate the injunction against her and drop her appeal of the lawsuit. Davis’ attorneys had argued that the appeal was no longer necessary with Kentucky’s new “religious liberty” law, which removes county clerks’ names from marriage licenses and was instated after the uproar around Davis’ decision.

ACLU LGBT Project Staff Attorney Ria Tabacco Mar hailed the appellate panel’s decision upholding the contempt order in a statement, saying, “It will serve as a reminder to other government officials that placing their personal views ahead of the Constitution and the rule of law is not acceptable.”

Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, which represented Davis, also claimed victory in a statement, noting, “County clerks are no longer forced to compromise their religious liberty and conscience rights.”