Pete Buttigieg is worried about his marriage if Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed to Supreme Court

Buttigieg said his marriage to husband Chasten "might depend" on the Supreme Court should Barrett be confirmed

By Rhuaridh Marr on October 20, 2020 @rhuaridh

chasten buttigieg, pete buttigieg, amy coney barrett, fox news, marriage — Chasten and Pete Buttigieg — Photo: @Chasten / Twitter

Pete Buttigieg has voices his concerns about the future of his marriage should Amy Coney Barrett be confirmed to the Supreme Court.

The former mayor of South Bend, Ind., was appearing on Fox News on Sunday, Oct. 18 to discuss Donald Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court.

Buttigieg, who married husband Chasten in 2018, told Fox News’ host Chris Wallace that the legality of their union could be in question should Barrett — who has a history of anti-LGBTQ sentiments — be confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate.

He noted that there are “all kinds of interesting questions on the future of the American judiciary,” before pivoting from health care to same-sex marriage.

“Right now as we speak the pre-existing condition coverage of millions of Americans might depend on what is about to happen in the senate with regard to this justice,” he continued. “My marriage might depend on what is about to happen in the Senate with regard to this justice.”

Same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide in 2015, following the Supreme Court’s landmark Obergefell decision.

However, earlier this month two Supreme Court justices called for the Obergefell decision to be overturned — effectively revoking marriage equality in those states without existing same-sex marriage laws.

In a dissent written for a separate case related to same-sex marriages, Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas argued that the court had bypassed the democratic process in Obergefell, and said the landmark ruling would “continue to have ‘ruinous consequences for religious liberty.'”

Barrett, a social conservative, has been accused of “hostility” towards marginalized groups, with LGBTQ advocates alleging that she would “dismantle” LGBTQ rights should she be confirmed by the Senate.

During her confirmation hearings, Barrett had to apologize after calling sexual orientation a “preference,” a term Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) noted is “used by anti-LGBTQ activists to suggest that sexual orientation is a choice.”

“It is not,” Hirono continued. “Sexual orientation is a key part of a person’s identity.”

Also Read: Sen. Mazie Hirono says Amy Coney Barrett is a “danger to us on so many fronts”

On Fox News, where he has gained a reputation for strong condemnations of the Trump administration as a surrogate for former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, Buttigieg slammed Senate Republicans for trying to jam through Barrett’s nomination before the election.

“It’s not in the spirit of our constitution, or our legal system, or political system for them to do this,” he said. “Most Americans believe that the American people ought to have a say. We’re not talking about an election that’s coming up, we’re in the middle of an election, millions of Americans are voting and want their voice to be heard.

“There’s an enormous amount of frustration that this Senate can’t even bring itself, with Mitch McConnell, to vote through a Covid relief package. People are suffering, people are hurting, there’s no clear end in sight,” he continued. “There’s been a bill we brought to them months ago coming out of the house, they won’t touch it, they won’t do anything but suddenly they have time to rush through a nomination that the American people don’t want. Whatever specific word you use for it, wrong is the word I would use.”

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