LGBTQ+ advocacy and civil rights groups have become increasingly anxious since the Senate voted to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett into the Supreme Court. Almost immediately after her confirmation, the Supreme Court will begin to hear arguments that could have profound impacts on LGBTQ+ rights.
Groups are concerned Justice Barrett’s faith will affect her ability to read and interpret the Constitution in an unbiased manner. Despite making up 20% of the US population, Catholics make up 66% of the Supreme Court, including Justice Barrett.
Chief Justice John Roberts, along with Justices Alito, Thomas, Kavanaugh, and now Barrett, five of the six conservative Justices, are Catholic, and Republicans appointed all of them. Democrats appointed, Justice Sotomayor, the sixth Catholic justice.
On November 4, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, a case critical in LGBTQ+ rights that asks the question whether or not religious or faith-based child welfare agencies reserve the right to refuse service to same-sex couples and other people, including other groups of religious people such as Muslims for example, if serving them would conflict with their religious beliefs or convictions.
In 2018, the City of Philadelhia barred Catholic Social Services (CSS) from placing children into foster homes because CSS had policy in place prohibiting same-sex couples from becoming foster parents. CSS sued the city, arguing that the city violated the organization’s right to freedom of religion and the right to free speech by prohibiting them from following the religious convictions.
Opponents of religious intervention in law are fearful that, with Barrett giving the Court a 6-3 conservative majority, civil rights for all classes of people could be in danger.
According to NBC, author and Rutgers Law School professor Carlos Ball said, “If the Supreme Court holds that religious organizations have a constitutional right to be exempted from anti-discrimination laws when they receive government money to conduct certain activities – such as placing foster care children with foster parents – that will significantly limit the impact and efficacy of civil rights laws.”
Currey Cook, an attorney with the LGBTQ+ legal advocacy group Lambda Legal, told NBC News that Barrett’s history and prior writings on religious liberty have led him to believe that she would “be inclined to grant certain groups special permission because of their faith.”
Rachel Laser, the CEO of the nonprofit advocacy organization Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said in a statement that “[Barrett] has shown that she would allow claims of religious freedom to be misused to harm women, LGBTQ people, religious minorities and the nonreligious, among many others.”
The right to abortion could be in danger as well; Justice Barrett is very clearly against abortion. The 1973 landmark case Roe v. Wade, which decided that the right to have an abortion is constitutional, could be in danger of being overturned as well.
If this were to happen, the legality of abortion would be left up to the states. This opportunity could come as early as the coming days; the Court is scheduled to review a case from Mississippi, which directly challenges the ruling in Roe v. Wade.
The Supreme Court will likely rule on Fulton v Philadelphia in the first half of 2021.