CNN’s John King joined Boston Public Radio on Tuesday, where he talked about the impact of Monday’s 6-3 Supreme Court decision linking workplace protections in the Civil Rights Act to LGBTQ discrimination.
The decision came days after the Trump administration rolled back Obama-era rules protecting transgender Americans from discrimination in health care. King said a few factors, including Monday’s decision, could make it harder for the president to defend that rollback in court.
"There’s a couple steps to it,” he said. "Number one, you’ve also had people like Susan Collins… [and] Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic House Speaker [saying] they’re gonna try to change it in Congress anyway.”
King then referenced constitutional law expert and CNN contributor Steve Vladnek, who said Monday’s decision could open the door for countless other LGBTQ civil rights cases.
“His point,” he said, "was that if you read the way the decision is written, that now other suits will come in, under Title IX and under other federal statutes… trying to take the language from this specific case and blanket it over other areas of federal law.
"That doesn’t guarantee the court will agree,” he said, "but you now have this precedent.”
King added the longterm impact of decisions like the one made Monday can be hard to visualize in the immediate moment, and particularly this one.
“We have all this change on the surface– these protests, the tug of war if you will... between Trump and those who oppose Trump on these cultural issues. It’s on the surface, but these Supreme Court decisions, they have roots. They actually change America,” he said.
