Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s book, So Ordered: An Originalist’s View of the Constitution, the Court, and Our Country, once again lays bare how far certain members of the highest court are willing to go to cast our basic right to exist and love openly as a threat.
Calling marriage equality a “decisive turn ‘against religious liberty'” isn’t just an outdated legal argument—it’s a direct reversal of reality. For millions of LGBTQ+ people, the freedom to marry wasn’t a culture war victory won at the expense of others; it was the long-overdue realization of our equal humanity under the law.
Framing equal protection as an “infringement” turns the First Amendment on its head. True religious liberty protects everyone’s right to worship and live according to their faith, but it has never meant the right to use religious doctrine as a weapon to deny others their civil rights, dignity, or legal recognition.
For decades, couples like ours lived under the constant threat of legal invisibility—denied hospital visitation, shared healthcare, and basic family security. Seeing a Supreme Court Justice label the relief of that vulnerability as an “assault” on freedom is a stark reminder of how fragile our hard-won protections remain under originalist scrutiny.
Alito’s hostile track record extends far beyond the Obergefell ruling, consistently weaponizing his judicial philosophy to undermine LGBTQ+ lives at every turn. From his relentless opposition to LGBTQ+ workplace protections under Title VII—arguing unsuccessfully that firing employees for being gay or transgender falls outside the statute’s original meaning—to his persistent efforts to carve out sweeping religious exemptions that allow public accommodations, social services, and businesses to discriminate against same-sex couples, Alito treats queer existence as a persistent legal nuisance. His jurisprudence systematically elevates selective religious dogma above equal citizenship, transforming the Constitution into an instrument to shield discrimination rather than protect fundamental rights.
Ultimately, Alito’s insistence on rehashing these grievances shows a deep unwillingness to see the real-world joy and stability that marriage equality has brought to families across the country, all while harming no one’s actual freedom to practice their religion. His ongoing crusade makes this book a timely reminder that the fight to protect our families, our visibility, and our equality is far from a finished chapter
