Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas calls for overturning precedents on LGBTQ rights. Jim Obergefell responds
BY VICTOR MELAMED
Jim Obergefell, the plaintiff behind the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on same-sex marriage, said last month that Justice Clarence Thomas omitted Loving v. Virginia on his list of Supreme Court decisions to “reconsider” because it “affects him personally,” reports insider.com.
“That affects him personally, but he doesn’t care about the LGBTQ+ community,” Obergefell said on MSNBC’s “The Reid Out.”
In a 5-4 decision released last month, the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. The majority opinion argued that the 14th amendment, which prevents states from depriving citizens of “life, liberty, or property without the due process of law,” does not protect the right to abortion.
In a concurring opinion following the ruling, Thomas wrote that “we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell.”
These cases protect the right to contraceptive access, same-sex relationships, and same-sex marriage, respectively.
Loving v. Virginia, which protects the right to interracial marriage and also concerns the due process clause of the 14th amendment, was not a part of Thomas’ list.
Thomas himself is in an interracial marriage with right-wing activist Ginni Thomas.
“I’m just concerned that hundreds of thousands of marriages across this nation are at risk and the ability of people across this nation to marry the person they love is at risk,” Obergefell said. “And for Justice Thomas to completely omit Loving v. Virginia, in my mind, is quite telling.”
