Conservative writer: For anti-gay zealots, Neil Gorsuch has gone from being a ‘Trumpist clarion call’ to the ‘incubus that haunts their dreams’
Justice Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump’s first U.S. Supreme Court nominee, is being lambasted by the Christian right and anti-gay extremists for ruling that LGBTQ Americans must be protected from workplace discrimination. Gorsuch not only voted with the 6-3 majority — he wrote the opinion in the decision. And Tim Miller, in a June 16 article for the Never Trump conservative website The Bulwark, notes how unhinged and hysterical social conservatives have been in their attacks on Gorsuch since the ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia was handed down.
Miller, who served as communications director for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, applauds Gorsuch for the pro-LGBTQ decision, writing, “For those who think this was just virtue signaling from the bench, or that gays are not treated differently from their straight counterparts, I’d like to disabuse you of that notion. Many, many people worked very hard to make Bostock a reality for decades. I salute them and am indebted to their effort.”
But among far-right social conservatives, Miller laments, the anti-Gorsuch mood is intense. Gorsuch, in the decision, ruled that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applied to LGBTQ Americans and protected them against workplace discrimination. And for social conservatives, Miller writes, Gorsuch has gone from being “a Trumpist clarion call to an incubus that haunts their dreams.”
Miller cites some examples of social conservatives having a “hissy fit” over the ruling — for example, Carrie Severino (president of the Judicial Crisis Network) and the Conservative Review’s Daniel Horowitz both see the ruling as an attack on religious freedom. Horowitz even went so far as to say that the GOP has become the “transgender party.” And Severino called the ruling an “ominous sign for anyone concerned about the future of representative democracy.”
Judicial Watch’s Tom Fitton, Miller adds, described the Bostock ruling as “an attack on our republican form of government.”
Today six judges acting as advocates opted to rewrite the statute themselves, short-circuiting the legislative proc… https://t.co/ug1ctbjJIb— Carrie Severino (@Carrie Severino) 1592231542
Justice Scalia would be disappointed that his successor has bungled textualism so badly today, for the sake of appe… https://t.co/1g4s81HQZR— Carrie Severino (@Carrie Severino) 1592231542
The Christian right has often made a “but Gorsuch” argument in favor of Trump’s presidency. When Never Trumpers remind them of Trump’s history of adultery, fornication and divorce, evangelical fundamentalists and Trumpistas will often respond, “But he put Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court.” However, in light of the Bostock ruling, Miller stresses, the “but Gorsuch” argument has collapsed.
Mocking Trump defenders, Miller writes, “Unfortunately for the mild-mannered Coloradan, (Gorsuch) has found himself in the crosshairs of the ultimate marginalized group: the zealots who sold their soul to a Bad Orange Man and no longer like what they got in the deal. The only question is whether the end of ‘but Gorsuch’ is enough to make them finally sashay away from their heathen president.”
