Justice Samuel Alito Says Dobbs Required “Courage,” Sees Little Chance Same-Sex Marriage Ruling Will Be Reversed

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito says the 2022 Dobbs ruling that ended the federal constitutional right to abortion was a case that demanded judicial courage, while predicting that the court is unlikely to overturn its 2015 same-sex marriage decision.

Alito made the remarks in an interview with CBS News’ Jan Crawford ahead of the release of his book, *So Ordered: An Originalist’s View of the Constitution*, reflecting on major cases from his two decades on the high court.

He wrote the majority opinion in *Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization*, which held that the Constitution does not protect a right to abortion. Alito also recalled the leak of a draft opinion before the final ruling.

“It was quite a shock,” he said. “Within a relatively short period of time, the thought occurred to me, and I think to the others in the majority that … this would endanger us and it made us targets for assassination.”

Alito said he did not regret authoring the decision, describing it as “a privilege to be able to write it.”

“I don’t think I anticipated the particulars of … what it led to. I did anticipate that there would be strong opposition,” he added.

When asked which case required particular courage, Alito pointed again to Dobbs. “I think that required courage by all of the justices in the majority,” he said.

Alito also discussed *Obergefell v. Hodges*, the 2015 ruling requiring states to license and recognize same-sex marriages. Although he dissented from that decision, he said he does not expect the court to reverse it.

“I did not think that there was any realistic … prospect … that it would be overruled because of the passage of … time,” he said. “After Obergefell, people of the same sex got married and entered into legal contracts.”

Alito said *Obergefell* is “much more concrete” than *Roe v. Wade*, which was overturned by Dobbs.

Questions about Obergefell’s future have remained since Dobbs, particularly after Justice Clarence Thomas wrote separately that the court should reconsider other precedents based on substantive due process.

Those concerns also helped prompt Congress, then controlled by Democrats, to pass the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022. Signed by then-President Joe Biden, the law requires federal and state recognition of same-sex marriages legally performed in other states but does not require states to issue same-sex marriage licenses.

The Supreme Court has so far declined recent efforts to revisit *Obergefell*, including a petition filed last year by former Kentucky clerk Kim Davis.