A key lawyer involved with designing the legal challenge behind Texas’ controversial new abortion legislation has also got his sights set on reversing LGBTQ rights.
Jonathan Mitchell, the former Texas solicitor general, is described by The Guardian as the “architect” of the Texas law, which limits abortion to the first six weeks of pregnancy (before many people even realize they are pregnant).
It also allows anyone “aiding or abetting” a pregnant person in obtaining an abortion past six weeks to be sued.
It’s now emerged that Mitchell wrote an amicus brief to the US Supreme Court ahead of its ruling on another piece of abortion legislation.
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SCOTUS is due to soon consider a Mississippi case (Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health) limiting abortion to 15 weeks. If it does, some believe it could lead to an overturning of Roe vs. Wade, the ruling which legalized abortion across the US.
Related: Tucker Carlson defends Texas abortion ban by attacking trans people in new low
It’s common for lawyers to write amicus briefs to the court ahead of such decisions, weighing in with their opinions. Much of Mitchell’s amicus brief, dated July 29, concerns abortion, and argues, among other things, that banning abortion still allows women to practice abstinence to avoid pregnancy.
However, the brief, also signed by Mitchell’s co-counsel Adam Mortara, also touches upon other “lawless” pieces of legislation.
It goes on to question the Lawrence v. Texas ruling, which legalized gay sex nationwide, and the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling, which did the same for same-sex marriage.
It says reversing Roe would not threaten interracial marriage, but “the news is not as good for those who hope to preserve the court-invented rights to homosexual behavior and same-sex marriage … These ‘rights,’ like the right to abortion from Roe, are judicial concoctions, and there is no other source of law that can be invoked to salvage their existence.”
It further states, “This is not to say that the Court should announce the overruling of Lawrence and Obergefell if it decides to overrule Roe and Casey in this case. But neither should the Court hesitate to write an opinion that leaves those decisions hanging by a thread. Lawrence and Obergefell, while far less hazardous to human life, are as lawless as Roe.”
Related: Texas court throws out judge’s lawsuit after she refuses to wed same-sex couples
Should we be taking this seriously? The Guardian says what makes this letter significant is that justices on the Supreme Court recently backed, with a 5-4 decision, the Texas abortion law which was designed by Mitchell. This suggests its conservative members are sympathetic to his arguments.
Mitchell was a former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and has conducted work for the right-wing, conservative Alliance Defending Freedom and the Texas-based Right To Life. He served as solicitor general to Texas between 2010-2015 and now runs his own law firm.
Professor Melissa Murray, of the New York University School of Law, was among those to highlight Mitchell’s amicus brief and its arguments.
FYI: In the SCOTUS challenge to MS’s 15-week abortion ban, Jonathan Mitchell, the architect of TX’s SB 8, has filed an amicus brief on behalf of TX Right to Life. The brief invites the Court to overrule Roe & Casey AND Lawrence & Obergefell, 2 major LGBTQ equality decisions. pic.twitter.com/sVREiCNZrl
— Melissa Murray (@ProfMMurray) September 18, 2021
Some responders on Twitter said they couldn’t imagine SCOTUS ruling to overturn Obergefell or the Lawrence rulings, but Murray did not share their certainty.
I appreciate your optimism, but Roe was decided almost 50 years ago by a 7:2 majority that included GOP-nominated justices. Both Lawrence (2003) & Obergefell (2015) were decided in the last 18 years by 5:4 majorities that were pretty ideologically aligned.
— Melissa Murray (@ProfMMurray) September 18, 2021
And these are the very people who scream DON’T TREAD ON ME when asked to get a simple vaccine, but legislating their absurd beliefs is no problem. Jonathan Mitchell is a hateful little turd. https://t.co/tl22wDCWPw
— Harvey Fierstein (@HarveyFierstein) September 19, 2021
Vince
Tough talk from a douchebag that looks like he’s never been laid without paying for it.
Banshit
A prime example of why abortion can be a good thing.
Cam
If they don’t like women, they also hate LGBTQ people. IF they hate Black people, they also hate LGBTQ people. If they hate LGBTQ people, they probably also hate women and Black people. If they hate LGBTQ, women, or Black People, they probably hate Latinos, Asians, any other minority.
Republican bigots keep trying to drive wedges, but if they hate one group, they probably hate the rest of us too.
Chrisk
The Republican establishment never wanted gay rights and abortion to go away. It’s been a giant freaking cash cow and election winner they’ve relied on for decades since they’ve never have run on anything to actually help people.
They’re boxed into a corner now that the crazies are running the asylum now.
loren_1955
So sad that the American Taliban is taking over Texas. Such a disgusting horrible anti-American and anti-Christ lot.
My2CentsWorth
The impact of texas extends beyond taking away personal rights but will hurt education.
Texas has a history of influencing the content of textbooks. The anti-facts laws will not only affect what facts students are shielded from in Texas but in other states too.
AxelDC
The Texas Sodomy law was incredibly unpopular in 2003 when it was overturned. Only 15% of the public at the time supported jailing gay men for sex. That number has to be even lower 20 years later with gay marriage popular in every US state.
Kangol2
The Texas sodomy law, overturned in Lawrence v. Texas, also criminalized “sodomy” between heterosexuals. It was a hideous law that should never have existed.
Joshooeerr
Most sodomy laws around the globe also criminalised sodomy between heterosexuals. They just weren’t used that way. And minimal support for such laws has never been a barrier to them being implemented and enforced. Wake up and fight.
JromeGervais09
Boycott everything Texan!!!!!! Look at labels of products. If made in Texas, don’t purchase. Don’t go to the Texas Gulf Coast on Vacation. All companies headquartered in Texas, don’t buy from them. We as the LGBTQIA have billions of disposable income and rethuglicans know that. We hurt their bottom line when we don’t buy. Our disposable income, (money after bills that we can blow on anything we want) last year was $917 Billion. Yes, that is the Big B. We have gross income over $1 T yes that is Trillion dollars.
JromeGervais09
I need to update that disposable income to $1 Trillion in 2020. That is 8% of the US disposable income. That means our gross income is much higher.
trojanboy
OMFG
I think we should look into Thought Crimes next.
That’s an overlooked statute too.
Bring it back why dont you.
barryaksarben
I have no doubt they will come for us if they are not challenged every step of the way. They are hate filled and think their so called GOD wants them to stop all the man on man butt sex. they hate sex period so of course gay sex is a bridge too far. BOYCOTT TEXAS. Encourage others to do the same. I live in Florida and have talked to all my out of state family and friends demanding they not come visit me until Deathshead diSantis is gone and the republicans learn the lesson they so deserve
Kangol2
This is the GOP in a nutshell. They are increasingly a party governed by hate, a desire to control everything while screaming about freedom, indifferent to gross corruption, lying and criminality if their members engage in it, and adherents to fascist, White nationalist cultism. As Cam put it, they are no friend of LGBTQ people, even if there are closeted/DL White Republicans who are active in the party. Texans should vote the GOP out of office at the next election, and keep them out until they reset to something approximating sanity and reasonableness. Fanatics like this man, Gov. Abbott, Lt. Gov. Patrick, Allen West, etc. aren’t it!
LeBlevsez
This amicus brief defines pro-gay rulings as “judicial concoction.” That’s the kind of phrase the conservatives on the Court love. I remember hearing the phrase “super-precedent” for the first time during Barrett’s confirmation hearings. So logically, in the minds of the conservatives, there are lesser-precedents; precedents that can be undermined with another too-clever phrase. Here’s yet another: the Court’s conservatives don’t seek justice. They seek justification (for their predetermined rulings).
BoomerMyles
I said on the same day this Texas anti abortion bill was signed they could go after same-sex marriage in the same civilian bounty hunter manner.
PerhapsYesNoMaybe
Sterilize the descendents of people who harm LGBT folks.
Fname Optional Lname
This is only the beginning. With the new justices in place we have a long road ahead of us.
seadrian
Where are all of the Log Cabin Republican trolls that are usually falling over themselves to comment on here?
Your party not only doesn’t like you, they give/attend sermons that support murdering you.