Here is how I stated the unassailable principle that I believed would compel the Supreme Court to rule same-sex marriages legal:
It is a self-evident truth that not allowing gays to marry is an even greater violation of the fundamental equal/civil rights all citizens should enjoy than not allowing blacks to vote.
(“Same-Sex Marriages Now Legal in New York,” The iPINIONS Journal, June 27, 2011)
To say I got a lot of flak from black folks for that would be an understatement. But, by then, I had sustained slings and arrows from so many for so much, I had become immune.
As is so often the case, though, vindication came just four years later. Because I had cause to hail the Court in “Supreme Court Rules Same-Sex Marriages Legal Nationwide,” June 26, 2015. More to the point, the Court based its reasoning on the principle I asserted in that 2011 commentary.
This is why I believed it was only a matter of time before that same principle would compel the Court to rule that it’s illegal for an employer to fire an employee based solely on sexual orientation.
Incidentally, I had no clue how many people had no clue this was still legal in 29 states. As the saying went, gays could get married on Saturday and get fired on Monday.
That said, with all due respect to the right to vote and even the right to marry, the right to work is even more fundamental.
Accordingly:
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that a landmark civil rights law protects gay, lesbian and transgender people from discrimination in employment, a resounding victory for LGBT rights from a conservative court.
The court decided by a 6-3 vote that a key provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 known as Title VII that bars job discrimination because of sex, among other reasons, encompasses bias against LGBT workers.
‘An employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex,’ Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the court. ‘Sex plays a necessary and undisguisable role in the decision, exactly what Title VII forbids.’
(The Washington Post, June 15, 2020)
In fact, the politicization of the Court has become such that the only surprising thing about this ruling is that Gorsuch not only joined Chief Justice Roberts in siding with the four liberal justices, but wrote the decision to boot.
Neither this decision, nor its breakdown along partisan lines, should surprise anyone who knows anything about the ‘politics’ (as opposed to the legal reasoning and judicial precedents) that guide this Court’s rulings. For the one thing that distinguishes this Court is that the justices Republican presidents nominated invariably vote on the side of issues that affirms conservative ideology; whereas those Democratic presidents nominated invariably vote on the side that affirms liberal ideology.
(“Supreme Court Rules Voter ID Laws OK,” The iPINIONS Journal, October 18, 2014)
Frankly, nothing affirms the betrayal this Gorsuch move represents quite like his erstwhile conservative brethren being so offended by his decision that one of them (Justice Alito) damned it as “preposterous.” Yep, when judicial formality lapses, that’s what passes for judicial argument.
In a similar vein, nothing betrays my surprise quite like the title to the commentary I wrote when President Trump nominated him:
- “Nomination of Neil Gorsuch to Supreme Court Affirms Politicization of Judiciary,” February 2, 2017
Still, apropos of betrayal, just imagine how evangelicals are feeling today. After all, they sold their souls to vote for Trump because they were dead certain his justices would help them win these battles in the culture war, which they’ve been waging for the soul of America since the 1960s.
Roberts has already dashed their hopes over winning the abortion battle. Now Gorsuch has done the same over gay rights.
For conservative Christian groups, Monday’s Supreme Court ruling protecting the rights of gay and transgender workers was not only the latest sign that they are losing the American culture wars over sexuality. It also caused widespread concern that it could affect how they operate their own institutions.
Many faith-based organizations, like schools or nonprofits, do not allow L.G.B.T. people to work there, citing religious beliefs that sex should only be between a man and a woman who are married.
(The New York Times, June 15, 2020)
In fact, from the evangelicals’ extremist point of view, this must be the most shocking betrayal in American politics since Benedict Arnold joined the British. Of course, Gorsuch has life tenure; so there’s no way Trump can make him pay.
Therefore, the only question is whether evangelicals will come to their senses and make Trump pay. The above notwithstanding, hope springs eternal … well, until November.
Related commentaries:
same-sex marriages…
Gorsuch…
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