On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee conducted a hearing of Cory Wilson, an anti-LGBTQ Mississippi judge nominated by President Donald Trump to have a lifetime appointment on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Pink News points out that in 2012, Wilson strongly opposed same-sex marriage calling it “a pander to liberal interest groups and an attempt to cast Republicans as intolerant, uncaring and even bigoted.”
Keep in mind that the Republican Party has repeatedly pushed ballot measures, statewide bans and national laws to keep same-sex marriage illegal. In fact, the party’s 2016 national platform sought to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 2015 decision legalizing same-sex
In 2016, Wilson also supported Mississippi House Bill 1523, a hideously anti-LGBTQ bill that would prevent lawsuits against anyone who discriminates on the basis of “sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions” opposing same-sex marriage, transgender identity or premarital sex. In short, the bill allows businesses and medical workers of all sorts to deny service to LGBTQ people.
The bill was signed into law by Governor Phil Bryant on July 27, 2016, and though U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves issued a preliminary injunction blocking the law in 2017, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Reeves decision — the exact same court Wilson now wants to sit on.
Wilson also wants to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing abortion access, and the Affordable Care Act (aka. Obamacare). Wilson dodged questions about his desire to turn over the ACA during his senate questioning.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, Slate has a rundown of Wilson’s very vocal disdain for Obama, Hillary Clinton and the ACA:
Wilson called Barack Obama “King Barack,” “petty and small,” “a fit-throwing teenager,” the “Anointed One,” a “radical leftist,” and “shrill, dishonest, and intellectually bankrupt.” He charged Obama with running the “most paranoid and politicized White House since Nixon.” He has also called Hillary Clinton “Crooked Hillary,” “criminal and clueless,” and either “felony dumb or willfully ignorant.” And he falsely accused her of destroying documents under subpoena.
Then there’s Wilson’s loathing for the ACA. He has called the law “illegitimate,” “perverse,” “big intrusive government” that “is less about healthcare than it is about redistribution of wealth and power.”
He has also stood up for his state’s voter ID laws and mass purges of voter rolls, repeatedly (and falsely) claiming that voter fraud is a serious problem in Mississippi, Slate writes. In short, he’s just the sort of ideologue that Trump would love to install in the increasingly right-wing 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Thanks to Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Wilson is likely to get confirmation.