Justices Alito, Thomas Call for Overturning of Marriage Equality

Two of the Supreme Court’s most conservative members opened the court’s term with that assertion.

Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas have opened the court’s term by calling for the overturning of its 2015 marriage equality decision.

The Obergefell v. Hodges decision threatens religious liberty, Alito wrote in a statement in which Thomas concurred. The statement accompanied the court’s order deciding not to review an appeals court decision that went against Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who famously closed down marriage license operations rather than serve same-sex couples.

“As a result of this Court’s alteration of the Constitution, Davis found herself faced with a choice between her religious beliefs and her job,” Alito wrote. “When she chose to follow her faith, and without any statutory protection of her religious beliefs, she was sued almost immediately for violating the constitutional rights of same-sex couples.

“Davis may have been one of the first victims of this Court’s cavalier treatment of religion in its Obergefell decision, but she will not be the last. Due to Obergefell, those with sincerely held religious beliefs concerning marriage will find it increasingly difficult to participate in society without running afoul of Obergefell and its effect on other antidiscrimination laws.”

The question of whether to extend legal marriage rights to same-sex couples should have been solved state by state through legislation, Alito said.

https://www.advocate.com/news/2020/10/05/justices-alito-thomas-call-overturning-marriage-equality