U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice
Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. on Thursday criticized the high court's 2015
same-sex marriage ruling.
Obergefell v. Hodges struck down
state laws and constitutional amendments that defined marriage as a
heterosexual union.
Alito's virtual appearance at the 2020
National Lawyers Convention was sponsored by the Federalist Society,
an organization of conservatives that advocates for a textualist
interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.
“Religious liberty is fast becoming a
disfavored right,” Alito told the virtual crowd before giving
examples of cases that reached the high court, including Masterpiece
Cakeshop, the 2018 case that involved a Colorado bakery owner
refusing to provide a cake to a gay couple celebrating their
out-of-state wedding based on his religious beliefs.
Alito said that there was no evidence
that Jack Phillips' decision to refuse to make the cake had harmed
anyone.
“As far as I'm aware … [there is]
no reason to think Jack Phillips' stand would deprive any same-sex
couple of a wedding cake,” Alito said. “The couple that came to
his shop was given a free cake by another bakery and celebrity chefs
have jumped to the couple's defense.”
Alito also said that freedom of speech
was under attack, stating that employees at “many big corporations”
could not say that marriage “is a union between one man and one
woman.”
“Until very recently that's what the
vast majority of Americans thought. Now it's considered bigotry. That
this would happen after our decision in Obergefell should not
have come as a surprise,” he said, adding that the dissenters in
the opinion predicted it.
“One of the great challenges before
the Supreme Court going forward will be to protect freedom of
speech.”
Alito also criticized restrictions
aimed at slowing the spread of coronavirus, saying that “COVID
rules have restricted speech in unprecedented ways.”