Roe vs Wade: Judge in US abortion ruling signals gay marriage, contraception next in firing line
- Justice Clarence Thomas said the Supreme Court should ‘reconsider’ other landmark rulings, including same-sex marriage and contraception
- Same-sex marriage remains a high-value target for Republicans and the religious right in the US
Clarence Thomas, one of the most conservative justices on the court, wrote that “in future cases” also involving privacy “we should reconsider.”
Thomas cited Griswold vs Connecticut, which enshrined the right to contraception in 1965; Lawrence vs Texas, which struck down laws penalising same-sex relationships in 2003, and Obergefell vs Hodges, the 2015 ruling protecting marriage for all.
Same-sex marriage remains a high-value target for Republicans and the religious right in the United States.
Thomas argued that, since the decisions were based on the same provision of the constitution on privacy as abortion rights, the court has “a duty to ‘correct the error’ established in those precedents.”
He also argued it would be necessary to analyse whether other passages of the constitution “guarantee the myriad rights” generated by the right to privacy.