On Friday, the conservative Supreme Court majority overturned Roe v. Wade, ruling that women no longer have a federal constitutional right to an abortion. But the conservative justices are not done in trying to take away individual rights. After the ruling was announced, Justice Clarence Thomas called for eliminating the rights to contraception, as well as same-sex relationships and same-sex marriage.
The decision to overturn Roe v. Wade came months after a leaked draft showed that Justice Samuel Alito had written a decision striking down Roe in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. At the time, many warned the court would next target other agreed-upon rights. They were right.
Justice Thomas has opened the door to taking away more rights, writing in a concurring opinion to the 6-3 ruling in Dobbs that the court should reconsider rulings that protect the rights to contraception, same-sex relationships and same-sex marriage.
“In future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell,” Thomas wrote. “Because any substantive due process decision is ‘demonstrably erroneous’ … we have a duty to ‘correct the error’ established in those precedents … After overruling these demonstrably erroneous decisions, the question would remain whether other constitutional provisions guarantee the myriad rights that our substantive due process cases have generated.”
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Democrats slammed Thomas for his opinion.
In a message posted on Twitter, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) wrote: “If you think the Dobbs decision doesn’t affect you, think again. Justice Thomas says the quiet part out loud: he thinks the Court should revoke protections for contraceptive care, sexual intimacy, and marriage equality. This radical Court can’t be trusted to protect your rights.”
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NY) followed up, writing: “This is the first time in our nation’s history that the Supreme Court has ruled to eliminate a right that it had previously protected. As Justice Thomas states in his concurring opinion, other rights could follow.”
Read Thomas’ opinion below:
This is the first time in our nation's history that the Supreme Court has ruled to eliminate a right that it had previously protected. As Justice Thomas states in his concurring opinion, other rights could follow.#ExpandTheCourt NOW. https://t.co/b1mMWuKJ9O
— Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (@RepBonnie) June 24, 2022
