By Andrew Stanton and Jason Lemon
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Justice Amy Coney Barrett was pressed in an interview with CBS News on concerns that the Supreme Court may overturn its landmark Obergefell same-sex marriage ruling from 2015, responding by saying critics "say a lot of different things."
Former federal prosecutor Gene Rossi told Newsweek her comment indicates she may not be inclined to overturn same-sex marriage rights.
Why It Matters
Some justices like Clarence Thomas have signaled an openness to revisiting the case Obergefell v. Hodges, which guaranteed the right for same-sex couples to marry nationwide. The conservative shift on the Supreme Court has sparked concern from the LGBTQ+ community.
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Barrett is viewed as a key swing vote on the bench. Although she is a conservative justice appointed by President Donald Trump, she is viewed as a key swing vote on the High Court, as she has been willing to break from the other conservatives on some issues in the past.
What to Know
Barrett, who is promoting a new book out on September 9, was asked by CBS News senior correspondent Norah O'Donnell about recent comments from former Democratic presidential hopeful and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
"The Supreme Court will hear a case about gay marriage; my prediction is they will do to gay marriage what they did to abortion—they will send it back to the states," Clinton said in a recent podcast conversation on Raging Moderates.
...
Barrett responded to the concern, saying, "I think people who criticize the court, or who are outside the court, say a lot of different things. But again, the point that I make in the book is that we have to tune those things out."
O'Donnell continued the line of questioning, pointing to a passage in her book where she described "rights to marry" as "fundamental."
"Yes, again, I'm describing what our doctrine is, and that is what we've said," Barrett responded.
O'Donnell pointed to a passage in Barrett's new book in which she wrote that the Court has held "the rights to marry, engage in sexual intimacy, use birth control and raise children are fundamental," unlike rights to do business, suicide or obtain an abortion.
"I describe the doctrine in the book and that is the state of the law, which I described in the book becuase I want people to understand it. I want Americans to understand the law, and it's not just an opinion poll about whether the Supreme Court thinks something is good or whether the Supreme Court thinks something is bad," she said.
Rossi told Newsweek her latest comments indicate that she is "not inclined to overturn the right to same-sex marriage."
"As to whether other Justices share her apparent view, I would further guess that at least Justice Thomas would not agree with her," he said. "In the end, my prediction is that a majority of the Court will stand firm and preserve the right to same-sex marriage."
Who Asked the Supreme Court to Overturn Same-Sex Marriage?
The Supreme Court has been asked to revisit the Obergefell decision by Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who garnered national attention by declining to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the decision. Legal experts previously told Newsweek, however, they do not believe that case will lead to the overturning of same-sex marriage rights.
Davis made national headlines just two months after the Obergefell v. Hodges decision when she defied a U.S. federal court order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. After being elected clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, in 2014, she was defeated by Democratic challenger Elwood Caudill Jr. in 2018.
"Obergefell was 'egregiously wrong,' 'deeply damaging,' 'far outside the bound of any reasonable interpretation of the various constitutional provisions to which it vaguely pointed,' and set out 'on a collision course with the Constitution from the day it was decided,'" Davis' lawyer wrote in a petition filed to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court could make a decision about whether to accept Davis' case in the coming months but has not indicated either way which way it is leaning.
What People Are Saying
Barrett said in the CBS News interview: "What the court is trying to do is see what the American people have decided, and sometimes the American people have expressed themselves in the Constitution itself, which is our fundamental law, sometimes in statutes, but the court should not be imposing its own values on the American people."
The Log Cabin Republicans wrote to X: "Yet more proof that the Supreme Court has little interest in revisiting Obergefell and marriage equality ... from conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett."
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the 2022 case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization: "In future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court's substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell."
What Happens Next
The Supreme Court could make a decision about whether to accept Davis' case in the coming months but has not indicated either way which way it is leaning. Meanwhile, it will also decide on a decision in a case surrounding LGBTQ+ conversion therapy in its upcoming term.
Update 9/4/2025 3:50 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
Update 9/4/2025 2:00 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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