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.
A majority of the Supreme Court appeared poised to overturn Colorado's ban on licensed counselors attempting to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of minors, after 90 minutes of oral arguments on October 7. The decision could upend similar conversion therapy bans in 23 states and the District of Columbia.
Conversion therapy attempts to change a person's same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria by teaching patients to suppress their impulses or modify behavior to fit traditional notions of gender and sexuality. The practice is often wrongly described as "curing" a person of same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria -- when even many practitioners admit they cannot eliminate such feelings, only offer ways to manage or resist them.
David Urban, a Republican strategist and CNN commentator who served as a senior advisor to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, has written an op-ed accusing Democrats of fear-mongering for suggesting that the U.S. Supreme Court might overturn its 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision legalizing same-sex marriage.
In his USA Today op-ed, Urban accuses "hyperpartisan liberals" of trying to "sow fear and discontent" by suggesting that the Supreme Court could reverse its own precedent and strike down the 2015 ruling -- a move that would immediately reinstate same-sex marriage bans still on the books in 32 states.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has allowed a same-sex couple's lawsuit against Lufthansa Airlines to move forward, after the pair alleged that airline employees effectively "outed" them to Saudi authorities, putting their lives at risk.
Filed in 2021 by John Doe, a U.S. citizen, and Robert Roe, a Saudi national, the lawsuit accuses Lufthansa of publicly disclosing private facts, breaching its contract, and negligently causing the couple emotional and financial harm.
In 2024, a district judge dismissed the case, ruling that although Lufthansa operates in California, Doe and Roe "failed to show that their claims arise out of or relate to activities in California." The 9th Circuit reversed that decision, clearing the way for the couple's lawsuit to proceed.
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