Liberal meltdown over Trump’s new Supreme Court pick has been cataclysmic to say the least. NBCNews.com added to the hysteria on Sunday by labeling the president’s nominee shortlist as “extreme.”
Of course, it’s all too easy to get an acerbic take on Trump’s choices when you’re asking lefties, or in this case, people with a vested interested in the gay agenda. NBC presented several opinions from pro-gay authorities, who sounded the alarm that potential nominees would be a threat to the sanctity of the LGBTQ lifestyle.
The article stated, “Following the reports of Trump’s top choices, a number of LGBTQ and civil rights organizations were quick to share their concerns about the president’s picks.”
NBC News cited individuals such as Lambda Legal director Sharon McGowan, and Alliance for Justice legal director Daniel Goldberg, among others. McGowan called the new SCOTUS candidates “extraordinarily extreme” and claimed that they have the “blessing of extreme organizations,” and “folks that would put the rights of many communities at risk.”
Daniel Goldberg’s opinion was much the same. He believed that “none of the nominees -- nobody on this list -- has demonstrated a commitment of giving a fair hearing to LGBTQ Americans.” He also added that Trump’s previous unsuccessful nominations for the lower courts have shown “contempt for the rights of LGBT Americans.”
“He wants to put someone on the bench who will turn back the clock and erode many of our most critical legal principles.”
Still, according to some, most of these dire warnings have been hyperbolic and used as” scare tactics” by political agendas that may be further stymied by a potential conservative judge. NBC included the perspective of Judicial Crisis Network’s Carrie Severino, who claimed that warnings from LGBT interest groups have been “very much overblown.”
Severino also argued that none of the potential nominees have ever made definitive rulings or decisions on LGBTQ legal matters so “we don’t really know what their position is.”
Still, the article went on to point out the unique dangers Barrett, Kavanaugh, Kethledge, and Hardiman each could bring to the LGBT community, if elected to the Supreme Court.
For example, although nominee Amy Coney Barrett has stated that she would uphold LGBTQ legal precedent from cases, such as Obergefell v. Hodges, or Lawrence v. Texas, both Goldberg and McGowan stated that this did not bring them peace of mind. McGowan argued that the Supreme court is different in that it’s not afraid to overturn precedent, and said that the court can “gut and hollow out precedent.”
Goldberg also added that Barrett’s writings on legal precedent have been “deeply troubling.” Combined with the fact that 27 pro-LGBT organizations have flagged Barrett for her Catholicism during her stint on the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals.
Both Goldberg and McGowan slammed Raymond Kethledge’s vote in the same-sex sexual harassment case Wasek v. Arrow Energy Services. Kethledge voted with the majority in dismissing the sexual harassment claims, and of course McGowan claimed that the decision demonstrated a “narrow understanding of what sex discrimination encompasses.”
NBC slammed Brett Kavanaugh for his ties to the Family Research Council, citing the fact that the SPLC has deemed the organization as an anti-gay hate group, and argued that Thomas Hardimann’s opinion on 2009’s Brian D. Powel v. Wise Business Forms -- another Title VII case involving the sexual harassment of a gay man -- was a cause for the concern as well.
All in all, Goldberg claimed that each of the four potential SCOTUS nominees have track records “of eroding rights and legal protections” for minorities, and both he and McGowan view future destruction of LGBT rights and protections to be the next step on these future judges’ dockets.
