Contraception, Gay Marriage: Clarence Thomas Signals New Targets for Supreme Court

THE GUARDIAN: Rightwing justice appears to offer preview of the court’s potential future rulings after decision to remove US abortion rights

Donald Trump with Clarence Thomas as Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed to the supreme court in October 2020. Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP
Many Americans reacted to the supreme court’s decision to reverse Roe v Wade and remove federal abortion rights in the US with shock, but many also asked a terrified question: what might be next?

The conservative justice Clarence Thomas appeared to offer a preview of the court’s potential future rulings, suggesting the rightwing-controlled court may return to the issues of contraception access and marriage equality, threatening LGBTQ rights.

“In future cases, we should reconsider all of this court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell,” Thomas wrote in his concurring opinion to the ruling on Roe.

Griswold v Connecticut established a married couple’s right to use contraception without government interference in 1965. The court ruled in the 2003 case of Lawrence v Texas that states could not criminalize sodomy, and Obergefell v Hodges established the right for same-sex couples to marry in 2015.

Thomas’s words confirmed what many progressive lawmakers and reproductive rights advocates have feared for years. The end of Roe marks the beginning, not the end, of judicial overreach by the court’s conservative majority, they say.

“It is important that Americans understand that this supreme court and Republicans in Congress will not stop here,” said Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “It is clear [Thomas] and the court’s majority have no respect for other precedents that have been won in recent decades.” » | Joan E Greve in Washington | Friday, June 24, 2022

Clarence Thomas Ready to Strike Down Marriage Equality Following Dobbs: The reasoning in today's decision overruling Roe v. Wade shows that rulings on marriage equality, consensual sex, and contraception were erroneous, he says. »

Related video

They Aren't Stopping with Roe v. Wade | Robert Reich

Jun 24, 2022 • What rights will be stripped away next? Contraception? Same-sex marriage? Consensual same-sex sexual activity?

Clarence Thomas said it himself: the Supreme Court is coming for your right to privacy.

Roman Catholic Church in the US Launches Legal Assault on Barack Obama's Health Reforms
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The Roman Catholic church in the US has launched a huge legal assault against President Barack Obama and his health reforms requiring most American employers to buy contraception for their staff.

Dozens of the church's largest archdioceses, universities and other affiliated groups sued the Obama administration around the country this week, in one of the largest religious lawsuits in US history.

They argue that the US government is violating the religious freedom of bosses whose faith forbids them from using or approving of birth control.

Firms who [sic] do not comply with the law face large fines.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, the president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, accused Mr Obama of "strangling" the church with his health care policies.

"We have tried negotiation with the administration and legislation with the Congress, and we'll keep at it, but there's still no fix," said Cardinal Dolan. "Time is running out, and our valuable ministries and fundamental rights hang in the balance, so we have to resort to the courts now."

The battle threatens to badly damage Mr Obama's support in November's presidential election among Catholics, a group he won by 54 per cent to 45 over his Republican rival John McCain in 2008. » | Jon Swaine, Washington | Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Obama Moves Closer to Post-religious Europe
TELEGRAPH BLOGS – JANET DALEY: A quite unexpected hurricane has hit the Obama campaign ship. The President has done what is, on the face of it, a startlingly foolhardy thing. He has provoked outrage in the Catholic Church and thus in that huge US constituency – now larger than ever due to a vast increase in the Hispanic community – which takes its Roman Catholic faith very seriously.

One of the provisions of Obamacare's Affordable Care Act which obliges employers to provide mandatory health insurance, is that such policies must cover the provision of contraceptive services. While churches and specifically religious institutions (such as convents presumably) are exempt, other places of employment run by the Church would not be. So a Roman Catholic school, university or hospital would be obliged to provide contraception for its employees even though this goes against its religious beliefs and teaching. The Obama administration is now facing opposition not only from the Republicans – who see it as a straightforward breach of the First Amendment right to freedom of religious observance - but from Democratic Congressmen and Senators many of whom come from states with large Catholic populations. Read on and comment » | Janet Daley | Thursday, February 09, 2012

My comment:

Would Obama have the gonads to go against the tenets of Islam, I wonder? He picks on the Catholic Church, but would he pick on Sunni or Shia Islam in a similar manner? – © mark

This comment also appears here

Catholic Church Leaders Vow to 'Take to the Streets' As They Declare War on Obama over Birth Control
MAIL ONLINE: Reform law demands free birth control to be provided at Catholic hospitals and universities / Catholics make up quarter of U.S. population / Some now rethinking vote come election time

Prominent Catholic leaders across the U.S. have threatened to turn voters against President Obama over his controversial plans to offer free birth control.

The fight is over a provision of the health reform law announced on January 20 that would require health insurance plans -- including those offered by institutions such as Catholic-affiliated hospitals and universities -- to offer free birth control including sterilization.

According to estimates, there are some 70 million Catholic voters – and many could be posed to vote against the president in the crucial upcoming election.

Catholic League head Bill Donohue said: ‘Never before, unprecedented in American history, for the federal government to line up against the Roman Catholic Church,’ CBS New York reported.

'This is going to be fought out with lawsuits, with court decisions and, dare I say it, maybe even in the streets.' Read on and comment » | Daily Mail Reporter | Tuesday, February 07, 2012

Pope Approves Use of Condoms in Fight Against Aids
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: After decades of fierce opposition to the use of all contraception, the pontiff will end the Catholic Church's absolute ban on the use of condoms.

He will say that it is acceptable to use a prophylactic when the sole intention is to "reduce the risk of infection" from Aids.

While he will restate the Catholic Church's staunch objections to contraception because it believes it interferes with the creation of life, he will argue that using a condom to preserve life and avoid death can be a responsible act – even outside marriage.

Asked whether "the Catholic Church is not fundamentally against the use of condoms," he replies: "It of course does not see it as a real and moral solution.

"In certain cases, where the intention is to reduce the risk of infection, it can nevertheless be a first step on the way to another, more humane sexuality." >>> Jonathan Wynne-Jones | Saturday, November 20, 2010

Taking the Pill for the Last 40 years ‘Has Put Women Off Masculine Men’
MAIL ONLINE: t ushered in the 1960s sexual revolution and gave women control over their own fertility.

But according to a new study, the Pill may also have changed women's taste in men.

Scientists say the hormones in the oral contraceptive suppress a female's interest in masculine men - and make boyish men more attractive.

Although the change occurs for just a few days each month, it could be enough to influence the fashions of the day.

If the theory is right, it could partly explain the shifting in tastes from macho 1950s and 1960s stars such as Kirk Douglas and Sean Connery to the more wimpy stars of today, such as Johnny Depp and Russell Brand.

Dr Alexandra Alvergne, of the University of Sheffield, says the Pill could also be altering the way women pick mates - and could have long term implications for society.

'There are many obvious benefits of the Pill for women, but there is also the possibility that the Pill has psychological side effects that we are only just discovering,' she said.

'We need further studies to find out what these are.' >>> David Derbyshire | Wednesday, October 07, 2009

This Stupid, Irresponsible Government! Pupils Aged 11 to Learn about Gay Sex
TIMESONLINE: Compulsory sex and relationships lessons for 11-year-old children are to include classroom discussions on gay unions and civil partnerships. Secondary pupils will learn about contraception and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), while primary school children will learn about their bodies and friendships, a review of sex education has concluded.

The review was ordered in October after ministers announced that sex and relationships education (SRE) lessons should be made compulsory to help primary and secondary pupils to “navigate the complexities of modern life” and to ensure that children learnt their sex education from the classroom, not the playground.

The changes to personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) classes mark the culmination of decades of campaigning by sexual health organisations, who believe that the patchy nature of sex education in schools is helping to fuel a record level of teenage pregnancy and STIs in England. >>> Alexandra Frean, Education Editor | Tuesday, April 28, 2009

THE GUARDIAN: Faith Schools Free to Preach against Homosexuality

Government plans include sex education for all pupils / Catholic schools welcome clause on teaching 'values'

Sex education is to be made compulsory in all state schools in England but faith schools will also be free to preach against sex outside marriage and homosexuality, under government proposals.

The plans to make personal, social and health education (PSHE) compulsory from the age of five, published yesterday, include a clause allowing schools to apply their "values" to the lessons and another allowing parents to opt their children out on religious grounds.

It means that all state secondaries in England - including faith schools - will for the first time have to teach a core curriculum about sex and contraception in the context of teenagers' relationships, but teachers in religious schools will also be free to tell them that sex outside marriage, homosexuality or using contraception are wrong. Sexual health campaigners warned that such an approach could confuse teenagers, but Catholic schools welcomed the move. >>> Polly Curtis, The Guardian’s education editor | Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Catholic Backlash at Cherie Blair's Speech to Students over Views on Birth Control
MAIL Online: An invitation to Cherie Blair to speak at a university set up by the Vatican has been met by a storm of protest because of her views on contraception.

The Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas in Rome is surprised by the backlash against the decision to invite the Catholic wife of the former Prime Minister to speak on human rights.

The university has received more than 200 complaints over the talk by Mrs Blair, who admitted in her autobiography Speaking For Myself that she used birth control.

In a TV interview earlier this year, Mrs Blair – whose husband Tony converted to Catholicism last December – declared: ‘I can still be a good Catholic girl and use contraceptives.’ >>> By Nick Pisa and Daniel Boffey | December 7, 2008

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