Thomas, Alito and Kavanaugh dissent from ‘conversion therapy’ case denial – By Jordan Rubin (MSNBC) / Dec 11, 2023
Monday’s Supreme Court action reminded us where the court’s right wing wants to go. But it doesn’t always get what it wants when it wants it.
The Supreme Court’s Republican appointees have reshaped the law and American life, perhaps most prominently in recent memory when the court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. But the court’s right wing doesn’t always get what it wants when it wants it, which we were reminded of Monday when the court declined to review an appeal over banning so-called conversion therapy that seeks to change LGBTQ minors’ identity and orientation.
Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh wanted to take the case, with Thomas and Alito writing separate dissents expressing their views (Kavanaugh simply noted he would have taken it up, without explanation). It takes four justices to agree to hear an appeal, so none of the other three GOP appointees — Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett — were on board.
That razor-thin margin also shows that high court review of the subject could be within reach, and Monday’s dissenting votes could feature in a majority opinion if the full court weighs in in a future case. As Thomas wrote in his dissent decrying the “censor[ship]” of “counselors who help minors accept their biological sex,” he has “no doubt” that the issue “will come before the Court again.”
