Fox News’ Shannon Bream downplays Supreme Court’s threat to same-sex marriage
With likely new conservative court tilt, anti-LGBTQ groups call for reconsideration of Obergefell v. Hodges
Written by Brianna January
Published
Fox News chief legal correspondent Shannon Bream -- part of the network’s purported “news” side -- downplayed the threat of a far-right Supreme Court to same-sex marriage, saying that no one is “calling at the court to overturn same-sex marriage” even though some influential anti-LGBTQ figures have done just that and President Donald Trump has promised to nominate judges who may overturn the court’s decision.
On the first day of the Supreme Court’s 2020-2021 term, Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito indicated that the court should “fix” its decision in the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges case, which legalized same-sex marriage across the country. Thomas issued a statement that was joined by Alito claiming that the decision had “ruinous consequences for religious liberty.” They wrote, “By choosing to privilege a novel constitutional right over the religious liberty interests explicitly protected in the First Amendment, and by doing so undemocratically, the Court has created a problem that only it can fix.”
Extreme anti-LGBTQ group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) -- which has argued against LGBTQ rights before the Supreme Court -- praised the statement, calling it an “important truth.” ADF is currently asking the court to consider taking up its case representing a Washington florist who refused to serve a same-sex couple.
The justices’ statement should come as no surprise, given that members of the right have indicated for years that they wanted to overturn Obergefell. In 2016, The Washington Post reported that then-candidate Donald Trump said of the same-sex marriage decision: “If I'm elected, I would be very strong in putting certain judges on the bench that I think maybe could change things."
Anti-LGBTQ group Liberty Counsel, which brought the case in which Thomas and Alito made their comments on Obergefell, responded to the comments by saying that the justices had appeared “to invite future challenges to the 2015 Obergefell marriage case.” The group continued, “Depending on how the case finally concludes at the lower court, Liberty Counsel will then file a petition to present the opportunity for the Supreme Court to address Obergefell.”
Additionally, National Organization for Marriage’s Brian Brown -- who is cozy with right-wing world leaders -- has said for years that his group would overturn same-sex marriage after Obergefell, and his group was key in working against same-sex marriage before it was legalized across the country. Brown has specifically urged Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation in order to overturn Obergefell:
For many months, NOM has pointed out that we are approaching – if not already at – the point where the Supreme Court’s illegitimate, anti-constitutional imposition of gay ‘marriage’ on the nation in the Obergefell ruling could be reversed. Now two Supreme Court justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, have given voice to that very point. Make no mistake about it – the confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court is essential to our continuing efforts to overturn Obergefell and restore marriage to our nation’s laws.
Despite enough evidence to the contrary, Bream downplayed the threat Barrett’s confirmation poses to LGBTQ rights and to marriage equality, saying, “There's no one calling at the court for overturning same-sex marriage.”
Citation From the October 14, 2020, edition of Fox News' Fox and Friends
SHANNON BREAM (CHIEF LEGAL CORRESPONDENT): There's been a lot made about the fact that justice, if she becomes Justice Barrett, would be a threat to LGBTQ rights. There was talk yesterday of a concurrence that justices -- Justice Thomas wrote a few days ago and Justice Alito joined. They were talking about the Obergefell decision. Now, they weren't calling for overturning same-sex marriage, so I think that needs to be clarified because you may hear about that again today. What they said in this concurrence is that there are still questions that are unanswered by that decision, primarily the issues of whether people that have religious views that differ on the issue of marriage, whether they can be a part of public life. This case came to them as Kim Davis, if you may remember in Kentucky, who was a county clerk who did not want to issue same-sex marriage licenses. They didn't take up her case, but they said Obergefell left us with problems where people of religious beliefs may find that they are silenced or they have to choose between their job and their personal religious beliefs. So, if that case comes up again today, just some context for people to know. There's no one calling at the court for overturning same-sex marriage, and suggestions that Barrett would add to the possibility that all of these marriages would be nullified or not recognized anymore. It’s not an accurate statement of the case, but I expect we may hear more about it today.
The rights of LGBTQ Americans are just some of the many issues at stake with a far-right ideological lurch on the Supreme Court. Bream has similarly downplayed the court's risk to the Affordable Care Act.