Opinion Summary: But if the hearings do go forward, senators should press Barrett on her views of precedent as they relate not only to Roe v. Wade and abortion but also to Obergefell and marriage equality. She also should be asked about the other issue in the Kim Davis case: when and whether religious freedom trumps the enforcement of laws (and court decisions) prohibiting discrimination. If and when the Senate Judiciary Committee questions Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, senators are expected to ask her about whether she accepts Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling legalizing abortion, as “settled law.” Two current members of the court have teed up another question that should be posed to Barrett: whether she sees as “settled law” Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 case in which the court ruled 5-4 that states must make civil marriage available to same-sex couples. On Monday, the justices refused to hear an appeal by Kim Davis, a county clerk in Kentucky who became a heroine for Christian conservatives and was briefly jailed after she refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples in the wake of the Obergefell decision. Davis said “God’s authority” gave her the right to […]
