In a speech last week, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito claimed that he has no interest in overturning same-gender marriage rights.
According to Them, the comments were made last Friday at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. These statements come at a time where there is a pending appeal to revisit and perhaps reach a different decision concerning Obergefell v. Hodges—the case that led to nationwide same-gender marriage becoming legalized.
The case is currently being challenged by Kim Davis, a Tennessee clerk who used her religious beliefs to justify not issuing marriage licenses to same-gender couples.
USA Today reported that the academic conference was deemed “The State of the Administrative State,” and that Alito was discussing Obergefell in the same context as the 2022 Supreme Court overturning of Roe v. Wade, also known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
Alito was the Justice who wrote the 2022 court opinion that abolished constitutional rights to abortions.
Connecting to Obergefell, he adds, “I am not suggesting that the decision in that case should be overruled,” and that the case is “a precedent of the Court that is entitled to the respect afforded by the doctrine of stare decisis.” He is referring to the doctrine that declares that courts must adhere to previous precedents when making decisions on cases.
Despite this statement, in 2020, Alito joined Justice Clarence Thomas’ denouncement of Obergefell, claiming that it “enables courts and governments to brand religious adherents (…) as bigots.” That same year, he also spoke at the conservative Federalist Society, stating, “You can’t say that marriage is a union between one man and one woman. Until very recently, that’s what the vast majority of Americans thought. Now it’s considered bigotry.”
It’s clear that despite claiming to respect Obergefell v. Hodges, Justice Alito clearly has his allegiances with conservative, anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry. Unless he has miraculously changed all his personal beliefs and overnight became an ally, I think everything he says—not only just related to the rights of AFAB and LGBTQ+ people—must be taken with several grains of salt.
