Speaking on The View, actress and talk show host Whoopi Goldberg criticized Ohio Republican Representative Jim Jordan for arguing a bill to codify marriage equality is "unnecessary."
Earlier, Politico reported Jordan had urged fellow Republicans not to vote for the bill. Jordan reportedly told his colleagues voting on marriage equality is unnecessary because the Supreme Court isn't yet prepared to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges and Loving v. Virginia, the marriage equality rulings.
Jordan later took to the House floor to declare the bill "is simply the latest installment of the Democrats’ campaign to delegitimize and attempt to intimidate the United States Supreme Court.”
His actions angered Goldberg and you can hear what she said below.
Goldberg said:
"You know, Jim Jordan, I know you don't really pay attention to much, but I will say that what the Democrats seem to be running on is also protecting everyone's rights regardless of whoever you love or whoever you're married to if you are married."
"I don't know, but they're trying to make sure that the rights you are so easily, you know, able to give away."
"We're trying to hold on and say, actually, you can't do that, especially for a lot of folks who are also married interracially which is coming up bobbing its ugly head around."
Others have also criticized Jordan in the wake of his public appeal to block votes on the bill.
\u201cBecause everyone knows that Congress doing one of their primary tasks, that of passing laws is intimidating to the supreme court.\ud83d\ude44\u201d— thatbondgirl \ud83c\udf3b\ud83c\udf3b\ud83c\udf3b (@thatbondgirl \ud83c\udf3b\ud83c\udf3b\ud83c\udf3b) 1658315782
\u201cThe bill literally codifies the current SCOTUS rulings. \n\nThe delegitimating would come from a super majority SCOTUS reversing decades of due process on political grounds.\u201d— Let's Go Gophers (@Let's Go Gophers) 1658318549
\u201cThis is not about the Supreme court, Gym Jordan. It's about the citizens of the United States of America, that we have free will. We choose to love & marry who we may.\u201d— G Callahan\u262f\ufe0f (@G Callahan\u262f\ufe0f) 1658333904
\u201cUh... Legislation is literally what is supposed to be used to guide the Court on handling cases. Their entire job.\u201d— Dan (@Dan) 1658286581
\u201cDelegitimize? They\u2019re doing that just fine on their own, thank you.\u201d— Steven Mitchell (@Steven Mitchell) 1658314019
\u201cIf protecting gay marriage at the federal level \u201cintimidates\u201d the Supreme Court\u2026 that kinda sounds like a them problem\u201d— Karl Emmrich (@Karl Emmrich) 1658295984
\u201cIts almost like its an attempt to check SCOTUS. You know, to ensure theres a power balance.\u201d— Stacy Says\ud83d\uddfd\ud83e\udd4a \ud83e\udd86\ud83e\udd96 (@Stacy Says\ud83d\uddfd\ud83e\udd4a \ud83e\udd86\ud83e\udd96) 1658311446
\u201cSCOTUS has delegitimized itself all on its own.\u201d— golers (@golers) 1658312480
\u201cUh... Legislation is literally what is supposed to be used to guide the Court on handling cases. Their entire job.\u201d— Dan (@Dan) 1658286581
Concerns about the future of marriage equality have taken on fresh urgency in the weeks since the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision that once protected a person's right to choose reproductive healthcare without excessive government restriction.
The decision on Roe, which hinged on a right to privacy that while not explicitly granted in the United States Constitution was nonetheless accepted per the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment (which grants all citizens “equal protection of the laws"), suggested other Supreme Court rulings, such as those regarding contraception, same-sex and interracial marriage, are now in doubt.
Thomas suggested in a solo concurring opinion that established gay rights (Lawrence v. Texas and Obergefell v. Hodges) and contraception rights (Griswold v. Connecticut) should be reconsidered now that the federal right to reproductive freedom has been revoked, calling them "demonstrably erroneous" and calling on the Court to "correct the error."
Thomas's opinion spurred the House of Representatives to pass bills to codify the right to an abortion as well as marriage equality into law.
