Well shoot, the man is just straight-up going for it:
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on Friday called for overturning the constitutional rights the court had affirmed for access to contraceptives and LGBTQ rights in an opinion concurring with the majority to decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
In his separate opinion, Thomas acknowledged that Friday's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization does not directly affect any rights besides abortion. But he argued that the constitution's Due Process Clause does not secure a right to an abortion or any other substantive rights, and he urged the court to apply that reasoning to other landmark cases.
Thomas wrote, "In future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court's substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell."
In case you're not aware, "Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell" refer to the Supreme Court's decisions regrading contraception, sodomy and gay marriage, respectively.
That's...
Note that both Roe v. Wade and the other cases mentioned by Thomas hinge on the novel legal theory of "substantive due process." What does that mean? In short:
The Court has ... deemed the due process guarantees of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to protect certain substantive rights that are not listed (or "enumerated") in the Constitution. The idea is that certain liberties are so important that they cannot be infringed without a compelling reason no matter how much process is given.
Justice Thomas is among the more outspoken critics of "substantive due process" jurisprudence, so you can understand why he's probably feeling particularly happy on this fine Friday afternoon.
I'm excited to see where the Court goes with this!
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