A Louisiana Supreme Court justice had no problem running for office on a platform of support for “traditional marriage.” What he just wrote about same-sex parents may shock you.
The Louisiana Code of Judicial Conduct says, “A Judge or Judicial Candidate Shall Not…make any statement that would reasonably be expected to affect the outcome or impair the fairness of a matter pending in any Louisiana state court.”
Despite that, in 2012, while running for a seat on the Louisiana Supreme Court, Jefferson Davis Hughes III ran this TV ad promoting his support for “traditional marriage.”
So perhaps it should come as no surprise that Justice Hughes – yes, the ad worked and he was elected to a 10-year term – on Tuesday penned a vile opinion that suggests gay parents, and parents in same-sex relationships, rape their children.
Ian Millhiser at ThinkProgress reports today that a “routine order issued by the Louisiana Supreme Court on Tuesday transformed into a flame war among four of the court’s members, one of whom claimed that he is not obligated to follow the United States Supreme Court’s decisions.”
Hughes, in his dissenting opinion in Costanza v. Caldwell, a same-sex marriage case now “moot” thanks to the Supreme Court’s ruling two weeks ago in Obergefell v. Hodges, shot off a defiant, churlish, and offensive rant.
“Judges instruct jurors every week not to surrender their honest convictions merely to reach agreement,” Hughes begins. “I cannot do so now, and respectfully dissent.”
“Marriage is not only for the parties. Its purpose is to provide children with a safe and stable environment in which to grow. It is the epitome of civilization. Its definition cannot be changed by legalisms,” he claims, disregarding centuries when the definition of marriage was one of property rights and polygamy.
“This case involves an adoption. The most troubling prospect of same sex marriage is the adoption by same sex partners of a young child of the same sex,” Hughes charges, all but stating outright he believes gay parents rape their children.
Millhiser’s article, “Louisiana Justice Refuses To Obey Supreme Court, Writes Opinion Implying Gay People Rape Their Children,” agrees with that analysis.
So does Forum for Equality Louisiana Chairman Chris Otten, who, as the New Orleans Advocate reports, said “Hughes was ‘basically accusing gay couples of being pedophiles.'”
Millhiser notes that Justice Hughes “cites no authorities and provides no legal arguments in support of his position.” Because, of course, there are none.
But Hughes’ homophobia and bigotry are almost overshadowed by his obvious and embarrassing ignorance of the case itself.
Justice Hughes’s unsupported notions about gay parents aside, it’s worth noting that he is also wrong about the facts of this particular case. As Justice Greg Guidry points out in yet another concurring opinion, “[t]he dissenting opinion appears to be unaware of the facts of the case before us, which involves the intra-family adoption of a boy by the female spouse of the boy’s biological mother.â€
In other words, Justice Hughes has no idea what he’s talking about, period.
In 2022, voters hopefully will remember that.
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Hat tip: The Advocate and Tom Aswell/Louisiana Voice
Image: Screenshot via Judge Jeff Hughes/YouTube
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