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13News Now Vault: Other landmark cases called into question following Roe v. Wade reversal

In his concurring opinion to the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Justice Clarence Thomas argued that the high court should reconsider other landmark rulings.

NORFOLK, Va. — Following Friday’s Supreme Court reversal of Roe v. Wade, a concurring opinion by one Justice has some fearing a fundamental shift is looming.

In his concurring opinion to the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Justice Clarence Thomas argued that the high court should reconsider other landmark rulings, naming three cases in particular: “Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell.”

Let’s look back at these rulings.

In 1965, Griswold v. Connecticut granted married couples the right to use contraceptives, or forms of birth control, without government restriction.

The second case mentioned, Lawrence v. Texas in 2003, made same-sex sexual activity legal in every state.

Finally, the most recent of the three cases mentioned - Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015, gave same-sex couples the fundamental right to marry nationwide.

The warning and concern from President Joe Biden and Democratic lawmakers following the Roe v. Wade reversal is that overturning the cases mentioned in Justice Thomas’s concurring opinion could be an easier task for the Republican majority. Certain fundamental arguments could apply to those cases.

While the majority opinion in overturning Roe v. Wade last week said the decision shouldn’t call into question other precedents, the high court’s liberal minority, in a dissenting opinion, wrote “no one should be confident that this majority is done with its work.”

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