United States v. Windsor (2013) (click here)
The Supreme Court ruled that the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional. In a 5 to 4 vote, the court ruled that DOMA violated the rights of gays and lesbians. The court also ruled that the law interferes with the states' rights to define marriage. It was the first case ever on the issue of gay marriage for the Supreme Court. Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. voted against striking it down as did Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. However, conservative-leaning Justice Anthony M. Kennedy voted with his liberal colleagues to overturn DOMA.
Kennedy is no longer there.
Examining the LGBT Record of Supreme Court Nominee Neil Gorsuch (click here)
Examining the LGBT Record of Supreme Court Nominee Neil Gorsuch (click here)
President Trump nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch to be an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Associate Justice Antonin Scalia. In keeping with the president’s campaign promise, Judge Gorsuch is a conservative justice in the tradition of Justice Scalia. As such, he is likely to reach decisions that negatively impact many parts of the LGBT community when considering issues of race, immigration, and reproductive health.
September 15, 2019
Watching the confirmation hearing of Judge Brett Kavanaugh last week, (click here) I had a flashback to two defining moments of my life. Both underscore the profound anxiety gripping many advocates of LGBT rights at the prospect of this nominee replacing Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court.
In the coming months, the high court may accept a case from one of several appeals courts that will determine whether or not LGBT people have any rights under existing federal anti-discrimination law. Meanwhile, some of the few protections we enjoy under the Constitution, for privacy and marriage equality, rest on rulings that Kennedy authored but that Kavanaugh has implicitly criticized — such his 2016 warning, in a tribute to the late Justice Antonin Scalia, against making up "new constitutional rights that are not in the text of the Constitution."...
Wikipedia:
Below (click here) is a list of the names of the LGBT persons who have served on the highest court of a state or territory in the United States.
The first state with a LGBT justice was Oregon, where Rives Kistler was named to the bench in 2003.[1] The first U.S. territory with a LGBT justice was Guam, where Benjamin Cruz was appointed in 1997.[2] There are currently eleven LGBT state supreme court justices, serving in ten states....
September 15, 2019
Watching the confirmation hearing of Judge Brett Kavanaugh last week, (click here) I had a flashback to two defining moments of my life. Both underscore the profound anxiety gripping many advocates of LGBT rights at the prospect of this nominee replacing Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court.
In the coming months, the high court may accept a case from one of several appeals courts that will determine whether or not LGBT people have any rights under existing federal anti-discrimination law. Meanwhile, some of the few protections we enjoy under the Constitution, for privacy and marriage equality, rest on rulings that Kennedy authored but that Kavanaugh has implicitly criticized — such his 2016 warning, in a tribute to the late Justice Antonin Scalia, against making up "new constitutional rights that are not in the text of the Constitution."...
Wikipedia:
Below (click here) is a list of the names of the LGBT persons who have served on the highest court of a state or territory in the United States.
The first state with a LGBT justice was Oregon, where Rives Kistler was named to the bench in 2003.[1] The first U.S. territory with a LGBT justice was Guam, where Benjamin Cruz was appointed in 1997.[2] There are currently eleven LGBT state supreme court justices, serving in ten states....
