Thomas did not mention Loving v. Virginia, the 1967 case that found laws banning interracial marriage to be unconstitutional, Acosta remarked. Thomas’ wife, Ginni Thomas, is White, and has been the focus of multiple reports regarding her communications with people within former President Donald Trump’s administration, members of Congress, and people involved in the organization of protests that led to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“To me it’s a clear indication that if it’s a case that impacts him directly, it’s safe,” Obergefell said, “but if it’s a case that protects other people, other people who are unlike him, then we’re not very safe.”

“The right to interracial marriage is only six years older than a woman’s right to abortion,” he noted. “Our nation has a much longer history of denying interracial marriage. Do we want to go back to the late 18th century, the originalist who’s saying we can only interpret the constitution as of the time it was written? When that constitution was written, ‘We, the People,’ did not include blacks, indigenous people, it did not include women, it did not include queer people. That is not a more perfect union.”