Amy Coney Barrett – Photo: United States Supreme Court
In her first televised interview since her 2020 confirmation, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett appeared on CBS Sunday Morning to promote her new book, offering only vague commentary to host Norah O’Donnell in defense of the Court’s legitimacy when asked whether justices might overturn Obergefell v. Hodges.
Barrett was pressed on recent remarks from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who told the Raging Moderates podcast that the Court will likely “do to gay marriage what they did to abortion” and “send it back to the states.”
Clinton was pointing to the Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling, which overturned Roe v. Wade and held that abortion rights are not guaranteed under the Constitution.
Asked to respond to Clinton’s comments, Barrett said, “I think people who criticize the court, or who are outside the court, say a lot of different things […] we have to tune those things out.”
The Supreme Court faces historically low approval among the American public. A September 2025 Pew poll found just 48% of Americans view the institution favorably, its lowest rating ever. A Gallup survey in July recorded even weaker support, with approval at only 39%.
Barrett is not seen as a guaranteed vote to overturn Obergefell. Many outlets describe her instead as a potential swing justice if the issue comes before the Court.
During the interview, O’Donnell noted a passage in Barrett’s book where she describes “the rights to marry” as “fundamental,” contrasting them with the “complicated moral debate” over abortion. Barrett was among the five justices who voted to overturn Roe.
Still, Barrett has pointed to Chief Justice John Roberts’ dissent in Obergefell. In a November 2016 lecture before joining the Court, she told an audience his dissent argued that “those who want same-sex marriage, you have every right to lobby in state legislatures to make that happen, but the dissent’s view was that it wasn’t for the court to decide.”
She then hinted the door could be open to overturning the ruling, telling the same audience, “I think Obergefell, and what we’re talking about for the future of the court, it’s really a who decides question.”
The Supreme Court will soon decide whether to hear a case that could return same-sex marriage to the states. The petition was filed in August by Kim Davis, the former Kentucky clerk who gained international attention for refusing marriage licenses to same-sex couples after Obergefell.
Seattle's local organizing committee for the 2026 FIFA World Cup is moving ahead with a first-of-its-kind "Pride Match" at Lumen Field on June 26, coinciding with the city's Pride Weekend, even though the scheduled game will feature Iran and Egypt, two countries that criminalize homosexuality.
The Pride-adjacent branding was created by the host city, not FIFA, the governing body of international soccer, which has not endorsed the designation.
When FIFA was planning the match schedule, Seattle was in line to host either New Zealand versus Belgium or Egypt versus Iran on June 26. Vancouver ultimately received the New Zealand-Belgium game, leaving Seattle with Egypt versus Iran, reports Outsports.
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, the first out gay leader of the Israeli parliament, angered the ultra-Orthodox parties within the conservative Likud-led governing coalition after voting in favor of a civil marriage bill last week.
The proposed bill, which was ultimately defeated, was introduced by the centrist Yesh Atid party, the largest faction in the opposition. It would have established a legal framework for regulating same-sex partnerships in Israel, including a couples registry, eligibility requirements, registration procedures, and mechanisms for dissolving civil marriages.
The year's nearly out. Sometimes that calls for taking sweet stock of the past months' wonderful events. Coming to the end of 2025, on the other hand, is more like getting to that denouement in the action movie where the survivors take a breath and pat each other on the back for having made it out alive. At this stage, we are Newt getting tucked-in to her Sulaco hibernation tube.
With some effort and a pinch of luck, may we all fare better in 2026 than poor Newt's end at the start of Alien 3.
Why such a shitty year? So much of it, obviously, can be laid at the feet of Lame Duck Donald. Not that he hasn't had loads of assistance in his evil efforts to erase our transgender family and friends, colleagues, and leaders during 2025. The purge, as promised, began right out of the gate on Inauguration Day.
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