The Supreme Court justice is back to complaining about LGBTQ people in a recent opinion from the court.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is complaining that people who oppose homosexuality were being unfairly branded as bigots, despite that being a dictionary definition of bigotry.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear a case about whether it is legal to exclude potential jurors based on their religion. The case stemmed from a lawsuit filed by Jean Finney, who is lesbian, against her longtime employer, the Missouri Department of Corrections, for workplace discrimination and retaliation due to her sexuality. During jury selection for the trial, which Finney won, her lawyer asked the judge to remove three jurors who had expressed beliefs that homosexuality is a sin. Finney’s lawyer argued their religious beliefs would bias them against LGBTQ people.

The state of Missouri appealed the decision, arguing that the jury selection process had been discriminatory on religious grounds. An appeals court sided with Finney, ruling the jurors had been eliminated due to their beliefs about homosexuality, not because they were Christians. Missouri appealed that decision to the Supreme Court, which declined Tuesday to hear the case.

In a statement, Alito said he agreed with the decision not to hear the lawsuit, but warned he felt the case was a harbinger of greater danger.

The appeals court ruling “exemplifies the danger that I anticipated in Obergefell v. Hodges,” Alitio wrote, referring to the landmark 2015 Supreme Court ruling that legalized marriage equality.

“Namely, that Americans who do not hide their adherence to traditional religious beliefs about homosexual conduct will be ‘labeled as bigots and treated as such’ by the government,” he said. “The opinion of the Court in that case made it clear that the decision should not be used in that way, but I am afraid this admonition is not being heeded by our society.”

  • ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Somehow I doubt Alito would have any qualms about striking atheist jurors from a case involving a Christian pastor.

  • Zombiepirate@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Hey, Justice dumbass:

    Change “homosexual” to “Catholic,” and I bet you can see the problem really fuckin’ quickly.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Or “Italian.”

      Not very long ago, there wouldn’t be a Supreme Court justice with the surname ‘Alito.’

    • winterayars@sh.itjust.works
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      9 months ago

      Sure but he obviously doesn’t care. There’s no attempt to be even handed here, he just wants to hurt LGBT people however he can.

    • LocoOhNo@lemmus.org
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      9 months ago

      I like the Christian mental gymnastics where someone in drag is a massive social issue, but they give 10% of their paychecks to men that wear a dress on stage that have actually been molesting kids for 2000 years.

      • III@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Yes but they changed the bible. They removed pedophile rape as a sin and put homosexuality in its place. So child rape is okay now. Checkmate atheists.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    You know, I will give the total douches that marched in Charlottesville one thing- they didn’t even try to hide who they were. They marched without masks, yelling racist and bigoted things and didn’t expect anyone to consider them anything other than racists and bigots.

    And then on the other side you have Alito and so many other bigot Republicans who are happy to be bigots but indignant that they get labeled bigots.

    Own your bigotry you cowards.

  • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    The thing is, he’s also totally incorrect. They aren’t labeled as bigots because they’re Christian. They’re labeled as bigots because they’re homophobic. There’s Christians who have no issue at all with gay people. You can’t say deeply religious people are being labeled as bigots when there’s also deeply religious people who have no issue with it.

    I’d love for Alito to argue “okay but if they don’t hate gays they aren’t real Christians” because it opens a can of worms I’d love to finally open. If someone doesn’t count as religious because they aren’t a real Christian, a whole lot of religious exceptions disappear.

    • TurtleJoe@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      You’re right, but he doesn’t care about any of that. He doesn’t care that some christians are cool with gay people and others aren’t. He thinks that all christians have a constitutionally protected right to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people, and that any governmental action that prevents that discrimination is infringing on a christian’s religious freedom.

      This is, of course, based on his personal feelings as a Catholic fundamentalist. I wonder if he’d extend the same religious freedoms to somebody who believes their God wants them to discriminate against old white men

  • OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    The case was not about gay marriage, it was discrimination of a protected class. The court said it’s fair to dismiss jurors who believe the identity of the protected class is a bad thing. Like dismissing misogynists from a sex discrimination case. Even if they came to their misogyny via religion, it gives them a bias in this case.

    Being dismissed for bias doesn’t mean they are bad people, either. The defendant’s brother couldn’t be on the jury because of bias, that doesn’t make him a bad person.

    Luckily this nonsense is the minority view on the court even in a 6-3 world, since his was a minority dissent.

    • grue@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Being dismissed for bias doesn’t mean they are bad people, either.

      In general, I agree it doesn’t. But in this case, it does.

      • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Correlation doesn’t imply causation. Both statements that they were dismissed for bias and that they’re bad people are true, but only because they’re linked to the separate true statement of the fact that they’re bigots

  • SinningStromgald@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    I’ve lost count of how many reasons there are that show Alito shouldn’t be a judge of any sort but this another example.

  • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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    9 months ago

    Man, if he’s bothered by being called a bigot, he’s gonna really hate it when he finds out what else people call him.

  • Jaysyn@kbin.social
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    9 months ago

    The sooner his evil heart gives out, the better.

    “Namely, that Americans who do not hide their adherence to traditional religious beliefs about homosexual conduct will be ‘labeled as bigots and treated as such’ by the government,” he said. “The opinion of the Court in that case made it clear that the decision should not be used in that way, but I am afraid this admonition is not being heeded by our society.”

    You are fucking bigots, full stop. Religion ruins everything.

    • Telorand@reddthat.com
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      9 months ago

      I’m not heeding fucking shit from an asshole who defends bigotry. If society doesn’t like the tenets of his religion, the problem isn’t society, it’s his religion.

  • Drunemeton@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    I feel like his comment is just setting the stage for overturning Obergefell v. Hodges. We already know that they want it overturned so this is just groundwork for the day when that happens.

    • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      I think there’s already a federal law enshrining gay marriage, so we’re fortunate there at least.

      It wouldn’t surprise me if they tried to say that law was unconstitutional, but the backlash from doing so would make the backlash from abortion look like a wave in a kiddie pool.

      • III@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        I assume the argument for it being unconstitutional is because it might make an old white man not get the deserved appreciation for his personal opinion in public. We can’t take that away from them. \s

  • Ranvier@sopuli.xyz
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    9 months ago

    Bigots like Alito shouldn’t be managing a McDonald’s, let alone have a seat on the supreme court. When will this “I think my religion says I should be a bigot so I have a constitutionally protected right to trample over everyone else’s rights” nonsense stop?

    • Jaysyn@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      Bigots like Alito would get fired from managing a McDonalds really quickly when it turns out he had a bunch of bigoted hiring and management practices. Which he would.

      The minute corporate noticed all of his employees were always white men, he’d be out on his ass.

      Because corporate America knows that bigotry (on the non-executive level) is not good for their bottom line. It’s not even about empathy. They just know bigots lose them money.

  • TipRing@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Dear Sam,

    If you believe some people should be treated as less than human, without the rights afforded to all people in this country, you are a bigot. Religion does not justify bigotry.

    Please step on something pointy.

    Warm regards, Tip

  • Dkarma@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Alito has always been the worst justice. He’s evil and not lazy like Thomas and Bart.

    Here he goes full mask off and basically says “bigots should be able to hide behind Christianity”

    Anyone who believes in the same morals as Jesus should be ashamed and angered by this man calling himself Christ like in any way.

    “Christian” just means you think Jesus was the Messiah. It does no lt mean the person agrees with him!

    This is an incredibly important distinction.

  • Viper_NZ@lemmy.nz
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    9 months ago

    Didn’t Sam get the news? It’s 2024, we’ve moved on as a society.

    We’re horrible to trans people now instead.