Online dating in the US--is it past peak? #EconTwitter #dating #internet #marriage #samesexmarriage
http://marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2025/10/online-dating-in-us-is-it-past-peak.html

#ClarenceThomas just dropped an OMINOUS bombshell over his dark plans for SHREDDING landmark #humanrights rulings, such as #birthcontrol access and #same-sexmarriage, after SCOTUS comes back in new term. #JohnIadarola and #BrettErlich break it down on #TheDamageReport. youtu.be/H7OHZWpmRoc?...

Clarence Thomas Makes DISASTRO...

Which states have the most same-sex couples? Here are the top 10

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/news/states-most-same-sex-couples

Japan has decided to allow same-sex couples to be treated as being in de facto marriages under a total of nine more laws and ordinances, including the disaster condolence grant law. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/10/01/japan/same-sex-partners-law/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #samesexmarriage #japanesecourts #lgbtq

https://www.alojapan.com/1381871/same-sex-partners-recognized-under-more-laws-in-japan/ Same-sex partners recognized under more laws in Japan #Japan #JapanNews #Japanese #JapaneseCourts #JapaneseNews #LGBTQ #news #SameSexMarriage The government has decided to allow same-sex couples to be treated as being in de facto marriages under a total of nine more laws and ordinances, including the disaster condolence grant law, it was learned Tuesday. The decision follows a Supreme Court ruling in March 2024, in which the top court said th

Clarence Thomas: The Supreme Court’s Longest-Standing Conservative Voice – A Special SCOTUS Series

Editor’s Note: Recently, I’ve considered a look at SCOTUS more in depth. It’s moving the law in right wing and conservative directions, and changing by fiat the power of the President, diminishing the power of Congress. This is the next article to examine the justices. The last in the series will talk about changes that should and need to be made to our top court. I edit and review all content, but I am aided by Perplexity Pro AI in my research.
–DrWeb

Clarence Thomas: The Supreme Court’s Longest-Standing Conservative Voice – A Special SCOTUS Series

Clarence Thomas: The Court’s Longest-Serving Conservative Voice

A Special SCOTUS Series

Early Life and Education

Clarence Thomas was born in 1948 in Pin Point, Georgia, a small Gullah community near Savannah. After his father left, he was raised by his mother and, from age seven, by his grandfather Myers Anderson, whose strict discipline fostered self-reliance.

Thomas attended a segregated Catholic school, then the College of the Holy Cross, and earned his law degree from Yale Law School in 1974. He has often expressed skepticism that opportunities attributed to race rather than merit benefitted him—an idea that shaped his later critiques of affirmative action.

Career Before the Court

Thomas worked in Missouri’s attorney general’s office, private practice, and then the Reagan administration. In 1982, he became Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), where he emphasized individual rights and a “colorblind” interpretation of civil-rights law.

In 1990, President George H. W. Bush appointed him to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Nomination and Confirmation

In 1991, President Bush nominated Thomas to the Supreme Court. The confirmation became one of the most contentious in modern history after law professor Anita Hill alleged sexual harassment during their time at the EEOC. Thomas was confirmed by a 52–48 Senate vote; his denunciation of the proceedings as a “high-tech lynching” cemented his combative public image.

Judicial Philosophy

Thomas is known for a robust originalism—interpreting the Constitution according to its text and historical meaning. He often questions longstanding precedents he views as inconsistent with the Constitution, writing separate concurrences or dissents even when alone. He favors bright-line rules grounded in text, structure, and history over pragmatic balancing tests.

Signature Areas and Opinions

• Second Amendment: Advocates a strong individual right to keep and bear arms, building on District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) and subsequent cases.
• Affirmative Action: Persistent critic of racial preferences; the Court’s ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (2023) aligned with his long-held views.
• Abortion & Substantive Due Process: Called for overturning Roe v. Wade years before Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022); in Dobbs, he wrote separately to question other substantive due-process precedents.
• Administrative State: Consistently argues that expansive agency power threatens the separation of powers and the nondelegation principle.

Legacy and Controversy

As the Court’s longest-serving justice, Thomas has significantly shaped conservative jurisprudence. His spare questioning at oral argument for many years contrasted with the sweep of his written opinions. Recent reporting about undisclosed travel and financial ties has intensified broader debates over Supreme Court ethics and reform.

Conclusion: Thomas and the Court’s “Right Turn”

Thomas anchors the Court’s conservative bloc, pressing for a constitutional order rooted in text and history. Whether praised as principled or criticized as radical, his influence on the Court’s rightward trajectory is undeniable and central to any discussion of the modern Supreme Court.

← Back to the series landing page

#2025 #AbortionRights #AI #America #artificialIntelligence #ClarenceThomas #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #Justices #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Perplexity #Politics #Reading #Resistance #SameSexMarriage #Science #SCOTUS #Trump #TrumpAdministration #USSupremeCourt #UnitedStates #YouTube

Pope Leo says blessing same-sex weddings is 'not what the Church teaches'

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/news/pope-leo-same-sex-blessings

A: Complaining about same sex marriage being illegal.
B: "There are way worse things out there than not being allowed to enter a legal contract."

Is that really all it is? "not being allowed to enter a legal contract"? Or are the MAGAs and other fascists bleeding into #BG3 Fan Forums?

#SameSexMarriage #Homophobia #Discrimination

https://www.alojapan.com/1371704/is-it-becoming-more-european/ is it becoming more ‘European’? #AntiGenderMovement #AntiImmigration #DonaldTrump #elections #FallingBirthrates #FemaleMPs #GenderPolitics #immigration #Japan #JapanNews #Japanese #JapaneseNews #misogyny #news #ProgressivePolitics #SameSexMarriage #sanseito #ShigeruIshiba #SoheiKamiya #Women'sRepresentation #xenophobia Has Japan really swung to the right? Robert Nordström explores how the collapse of one-party dominance has f

Amy Coney Barrett: A Deep Dive into the Supreme Court’s Conservative Pivot – A Special SCOTUS Series

Editor’s Note: Recently, I’ve considered a look at SCOTUS more in depth. It’s moving the law in right wing and conservative directions, and changing by fiat the power of the President, diminishing the power of Congress. This is the first article to examine the justices. The last in the series will talk about changes that should and need to be made to our top court.
–DrWeb

Amy Coney Barrett: A Deep Dive into the Supreme Court’s Conservative Pivot

Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett has indeed emerged as a pivotal figure on the nation’s highest court since her controversial confirmation in October 2020. Her visibility and influence have grown significantly, particularly following her role in landmark decisions affecting abortion rights and other contentious social issues.

Background and Rise to the Court

Amy Vivian Coney Barrett, born January 28, 1972, graduated first in her class from Notre Dame Law School in 1997. She clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia, whose judicial philosophy of textualism and originalism she has embraced. After serving as a Notre Dame law professor and later as a federal appeals judge on the Seventh Circuit from 2017-2020, Trump nominated her to fill Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat just 38 days before the 2020 election.

Her confirmation was historically contentious – she became the first Supreme Court justice in 150 years confirmed without any support from the minority party, passing by a 52-48 vote with all Democrats opposing. This partisan divide foreshadowed the significant role she would play in reshaping American jurisprudence.

Understanding Barrett’s Judicial Philosophy:
Key Terms Explained

Textualism

Textualism is a method of legal interpretation that focuses exclusively on the plain meaning of statutory and constitutional text as it would have been understood by ordinary readers at the time of enactment. Textualists like Barrett reject consideration of legislative intent, policy outcomes, or evolving social context, instead asking what a “reasonable person” would understand the words to mean in their historical context. As Justice Scalia, Barrett’s mentor, famously illustrated: when a law prohibits “using a firearm” in drug crimes, a textualist would interpret this as using the gun as a weapon, not trading it as barter—because that’s what guns are “normally used for.” While textualism promises objectivity and simplicity by focusing solely on text, critics argue it can oversimplify complex legal issues and ignore how language evolves over time.

Originalism

Originalism is the constitutional interpretation theory holding that the Constitution should be understood according to its “original public meaning”—what the text meant to ordinary readers when it was ratified, not what modern interpreters think it should mean today. Unlike “living constitution” approaches that allow constitutional meaning to evolve with changing times, originalists like Barrett believe constitutional text has a fixed meaning that can only be changed through the formal amendment process, not judicial reinterpretation. This philosophy often leads to conservative outcomes because it anchors legal interpretation in 18th and 19th-century understandings of rights and government power. Barrett has explicitly embraced this approach, arguing that “constitutional text means what it did at the time it was ratified and that this original public meaning is authoritative.” Together, textualism and originalism form the intellectual foundation for Barrett’s approach to cases involving abortion, same-sex marriage, and other contemporary constitutional questions.

Key Rulings and Voting Record

Abortion Rights: The Dobbs Decision

Barrett was indeed central to overturning Roe v. Wade in the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision. In her forthcoming book “Listening to the Law,” she defends this vote, arguing that Roe “bypassed the preferences of the American populace” and that abortion rights were never “deeply entrenched in American history.” She maintains that the court’s role is “to respect choices that people have agreed to, not tell them what they should agree to.”

Same-Sex Marriage: The Next Target?

Barrett’s potential role in reversing same-sex marriage appears well-founded given her judicial record and stated philosophy. Barrett has connections to religious organizations with anti-LGBTQ+ positions and previously endorsed a 2015 letter affirming traditional marriage as “rooted in the unwavering commitment of a man and a woman.” During her confirmation hearings, she controversially referred to LGBTQ+ individuals as having “sexual preference,” later apologizing.

Several Republican-led state legislatures are currently pushing resolutions urging the Supreme Court to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 decision legalizing same-sex marriage. In her new book, Barrett distinguishes abortion from other rights like marriage, suggesting the “complicated moral debate” around abortion differentiates it from rights that enjoy broader public support.

Barrett’s Growing Independence and Influence

Despite her conservative credentials, Barrett has demonstrated surprising independence from the court’s conservative bloc in some cases. Legal observers note she’s “striking Sandra Day O’Connor’s path” by being “independent of her conservative brethren on some important questions.” This has made her a justice to watch, as Chief Justice Roberts may increasingly need to negotiate with her for crucial fifth votes.

Her voting statistics reflect her conservative alignment but also show strategic positioning: in the 2023-2024 term, she was in the majority 92% of the time, and averaged 91% majority alignment since joining the court.

Her New Book: “Listening to the Law”

Barrett’s memoir “Listening to the Law: Reflections on the Court and Constitution” was released on September 9, 2025. The book provides unprecedented insight into Supreme Court operations and her judicial philosophy. Beyond defending the Dobbs decision, she reveals personal struggles with cases she found “distasteful to cast,” particularly regarding capital punishment.

Barrett’s Writings and Academic Work

Barrett’s notable works include:

• “Listening to the Law: Reflections on the Court and Constitution” (September 2025) – her memoir
• Numerous law review articles during her Notre Dame professorship (2002-2017)
• Federal court opinions from her Seventh Circuit tenure (2017-2020)
• Supreme Court opinions since 2020

Research Note: For comprehensive access to her academic writings, researchers should check Notre Dame Law School’s faculty repository, legal databases like Westlaw or LexisNexis, and Google Scholar for open-access pieces.

The Broader Implications

Barrett’s position as the court’s potential swing vote on social issues makes her arguably the most consequential justice for the future of American civil rights. At 53, she could serve for decades, shaping law long after current political dynamics change. Her approach of distinguishing between different types of rights based on historical grounding and public acceptance suggests a methodical strategy for rolling back progressive precedents.

Barrett appears “key” to potential rulings on same-sex marriage, given both her stated judicial philosophy and the current legal landscape where conservative activists are actively challenging Obergefell. Her role in the conservative majority’s systematic dismantling of liberal precedents positions her as one of the most watched and influential justices in modern Supreme Court history.

Sources

1. Wikipedia Contributors. “Amy Coney Barrett.” Wikipedia, May 7, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Coney_Barrett
2. CNN. “Exclusive: Justice Amy Coney Barrett defends overturning Roe v. Wade and reveals Supreme Court dynamics in new book.” CNN Politics, September 2, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/02/politics/amy-coney-barrett-book-supreme-court-abortion
3. National Women’s History Museum. “Amy Coney Barrett.” Women’s History Museum, August 31, 2021. https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/amy-coney-barrett
4. Ballotpedia. “Amy Coney Barrett.” Ballotpedia, September 28, 2020. https://ballotpedia.org/Amy_Coney_Barrett
5. Reuters. “US Supreme Court’s Barrett defends overturning abortion right in new book.” Reuters Legal, September 2, 2025. https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-supreme-courts-barrett-defends-overturning-abortion-right-new-book-2025-09-02/
6. Newsweek. “What Amy Coney Barrett Has Said on Gay Marriage as Republicans Push to End Same-Sex Marriage.” Newsweek, March 14, 2025. https://www.newsweek.com/what-amy-coney-barrett-has-said-gay-marriage-republicans-push-end-2044855
7. Alliance for Justice. “USA Today: How Amy Coney Barrett emerged as the Supreme Court Justice to Watch.” Alliance for Justice, July 10, 2024. https://afj.org/article/usa-today-how-amy-coney-barrett-emerged-as-the-supreme-court-justice-to-watch/
8. Reagan Foundation. “A Conversation and Book Signing with Supreme Court Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett.” Reagan Foundation Events, August 31, 2025. https://www.reaganfoundation.org/events/a-conversation-and-book-signing-with-amy-coney-barrett
9. Justia. “Justice Amy Coney Barrett.” Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center, October 26, 2020. https://supreme.justia.com/justices/amy-coney-barrett/
10. Newsweek. “Amy Coney Barrett Reveals Her ‘Distasteful’ Supreme Court Vote.” Newsweek, September 3, 2025. https://www.newsweek.com/amy-coney-barrett-supreme-court-distasteful-vote-2124025
11. New York Court Watcher. “Splinters in the 6-3 Supreme Court (Part 1: Amy Coney Barrett).” New York Court Watcher, December 30, 2024. http://www.newyorkcourtwatcher.com/2024/12/splinters-in-6-3-supreme-court-part-1.html
12. Newsweek. “Amy Coney Barrett Says ‘Rights to Marry’ Are Different From Abortion.” Newsweek, September 2, 2025. https://www.newsweek.com/amy-coney-barrett-abortion-supreme-court-decision-2123359
13. Library of Congress. “Justice Amy Coney Barrett.” 2025 National Book Festival, July 7, 2025. https://www.loc.gov/events/2025-national-book-festival/authors/item/no2020054095/justice-amy-coney-barrett/
14. Empirical SCOTUS. “The Real A.C.B.” Empirical SCOTUS, March 31, 2025. https://empiricalscotus.com/2025/04/01/the-real-a-c-b/
15. Barnes & Noble. “Listening to the Law: Reflections on the Court and Constitution by Amy Coney Barrett.” Barnes & Noble, August 31, 2025. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/listening-to-the-law-amy-coney-barrett/1147168709
16. Cornell Law School. “Textualism.” Wex Legal Information Institute, July 24, 2016. https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/textualism
17. Wikipedia Contributors. “Textualism.” Wikipedia, November 9, 2005. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textualism
18. Pacific Legal Foundation. “Originalism vs. Textualism.” Pacific Legal Foundation, December 13, 2023. https://pacificlegal.org/originalism-vs-textualism-vs-living-constitutionalism/
19. EBSCO Research Starters. “Textualism.” EBSCO Research Starters – Law, October 31, 2020. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/law/textualism

Article researched and compiled September 6, 2025

#2025 #AbortionRights #AI #America #AmyConeyBarrett #AntoninScalia #artificialIntelligence #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #Justices #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Marriage #Opinion #Perplexity #Politics #Reading #Resistance #SameSexMarriage #Science #SCOTUS #Trump #TrumpAdministration #USSupremeCourt #UnitedStates

Belotti responds,

"Can the Church tell some people that what they’re experiencing is not true, not holy enough, not deep enough, not strong enough to be called love?"

Imagine the word "love" being uttered in a Christian church. What's the world coming to?

#Catholic #homosexuality #SameSexMarriage #LGBTQ
/3

After the funeral, some of those attending the funeral told the priest, Don Renzo Cozzi, that speaking of the couple as "friends" erased their years of committed love and partnership.

Cozzi defends himself by saying — and is he oblivious to the irony ini what he says? — "If I’d talked about love, I’d have gone against ecclesiastical rules."

The church does not permit me to speak of love….

#Catholic #homosexuality #SameSexMarriage #LGBTQ
/2

Elisa Belotti reports on what happened in early August when the priest presiding at the funeral of Mario Paglino and Gianni Grossi in Novaro, Italy, referred to the two as "friends." Though they had been together 25 years and were in a civil union….

Paglino and Grossi died together in a car crash.

#Catholic #homosexuality #SameSexMarriage #LGBTQ
/1

https://www.newwaysministry.org/2025/08/08/a-funeral-that-failed-to-name-love/

Why can't these #fascist controlling, hateful fuck wads just mind their own fucking business?! 🤬🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️❤️🧡💛💚💙💙💜

#GOPhatesAmericans #TrumpRegime #LGBTQIA #LoveIsLove #GayRightsAreHumanRights #SameSexMarriage #SupremeCourt

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/supreme-court-formally-asked-overturn-landmark-same-sex/story?id=124465302&fbclid=IwY2xjawMNrRhleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHnqc0POx78UPN73TjsVVxld5NcPQUAbXc3YyYVc9PBnTWXnv8qAYQnHeXj9B_aem_31YYxHiSq0GAhg4tyrJo_Q

Book review The Son With Two Moms

https://makertube.net/w/tSp1n1T2amN9B1whxDgKcx

I think many would agree that today we find ourselves in a situation where many things we hold dear and thought were settled over the past 75 or even 100 years are now under attack and threatened to be dismantled. I think about me as a person with disabilities. Many employment opportunities available through #DEI programs are now gone. Disability rights in general are being weakened because we need to bow to the needs and wants of business. And then there’s #SCOTUS nuking #Roe and almost certainly setting their sites on #SameSexMarriage next. And why stop there? Why not get rid of #Miranda and #Gideon while they’re at it? Perhaps even #Loving to boot? And also decide that maybe the #Confederacy was victorious after all? I think I’m in need of lunch and possibly an attitude adjustment.

(continued from /6)

and the many authoritarian (and, let's face it, racist even when they pretended to be otherwise) Catholics outside the South who were enraged when the federal government recognized reproductive rights for women.

From that history to where we are now with Trump and MAGA is a straight line. These folks have been and are the driving force of the Republican party for years now.

#Obergefell #SameSexMarriage #SupremeCourt #ReligiousFreedom #KimDavis #CivilRights
/7

This was the genesis of the Religious Right, with Catholic activists then seizing the opportunity to build on the rage of white segregationist Christians in the South by introducing the issue of abortion, about which evangelicals had never cared, to cement an alliance between white Southern evangelicals (continued in /7)

#Obergefell #SameSexMarriage #SupremeCourt #ReligiousFreedom #KimDavis #CivilRights
/6

When the federal government began threatening to deny federal funding to church-based schools like Bob Jones University as long as the university refused to abide by civil rights laws, white churches across the South began to organize to "defend" their supposedly violated "religious freedom" to discriminate.

#Obergefell #SameSexMarriage #SupremeCourt #ReligiousFreedom #KimDavis #CivilRights
/5

White evangelical Christians, especially in the South, had long taught that "God" chose to make the races separate, with Black people consigned by God to serve white people.

When the federal government recognized the rights of people of color, there was a huge hullabaloo among white Southern evangelicals, who claimed that their religious freedom (to discriminate) was being violated, trampled on.

#Obergefell #SameSexMarriage #SupremeCourt #ReligiousFreedom #KimDavis #CivilRights
/4