“The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg said Associate Justice Clarence Thomas “better hope they don’t come” for his rights after the Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.
The panel suggested that the overturning of Roe v. Wade has set the precedent for other cases establishing rights under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment — interracial and gay marriage, contraception — are now under attack. Goldberg said Thomas, who joined the majority in overturning Roe, could lose his right to be married to his wife, Ginni.
“I appreciate everybody’s religion, but I do not subscribe to your religion. I don’t ask you to subscribe to mine,” Goldberg began. “And you do not have the right, based on your religious beliefs, to tell me, because what’s next, as Clarence Thomas is signaling, they’re going to get rid of contraception. Do you understand, sir? No, because you don’t have to use it!”
“We were not in the Constitution either,” Goldberg continued. “We were not even people in the Constitution. Well, you better hope they don’t come for you, Clarence, and say ‘you should not be married to your wife who happens to be white.’ Because they will move that. And you better hope that nobody says ‘you know what, you’re not in the Constitution, you’re back to being a quarter of a person.’ Because that’s not going to work, either.”
In a separate opinion Friday, Thomas signaled that the Due Process Clause does not protect the rights to gay marriage and contraception and thereby called on the Court to “reconsider” precedents established in the cases Griswold v. Connecticut, Lawrence v. Texas and Obergefell v. Hodges. (RELATED: Whoopi Goldberg Says ‘It Doesn’t Matter’ At What Point An Unborn Child Should Have Rights In Fiery Exchange)
“In future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell,” he wrote.
Co-host Sunny Hostin said she opposes abortion even in cases of rape and incest due to her Catholic faith, but the law should not be judged based on religious beliefs. She said Associate Justice Samuel Alito used his religion in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision.
Co-host Sara Haines said opposing Roe v. Wade is not always entirely based on religious belief, citing former Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s belief that Roe was wrongly decided based on her interpretation of the Constitution.
“Don’t we have separation of church and state?” co-host Joy Behar said. “Clarence Thomas needs to have a seance and have Thomas Jefferson there, and Alexander Hamilton, ‘hello? Do we have separation of church and state here as in the Constitution?'”
Co-host Ana Navarro said if an individual is against abortion, contraception or gay marriage, they can refrain from those practices and allow other people to freely choose those things.
Haines claimed a nine-week-old unborn child is not equal to a baby or the mother, then noted that society is not putting more emphasis on assisting the woman in order to help them care for the child.
“Right now, you have all these people are making this decision based on the kids they already have,” Haines said. “I look at that and I think also about the women who are forced to do this because they can’t come out and say what happened to them due to the families they have, due to incest in their family.”
Goldberg called herself “very pro-life” but that abortion is an individual choice.