Section 7

Citation: Section 7
Parent Document: Bostock v. Clayton County, 590 U.S. 644 (2020)
Jurisdiction: United States (federal)
Effective Date: 2020-06-15
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/4760997/bostock-v-clayton-county/ ↗

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Capitol Hill. But the Constitution does not put the Legis-
lative Branch in the “position of a television quiz show con-
testant so that when a given period of time has elapsed and
a problem remains unsolved by them, the federal judiciary
may press a buzzer and take its turn at fashioning a solu-
tion.” Rehnquist, The Notion of a Living Constitution, 54
Texas L. Rev. 693, 700 (1976). The proper role of the Judi-
ciary in statutory interpretation cases is “to apply, not
amend, the work of the People’s representatives,” even
when the judges might think that “Congress should reenter
the field and alter the judgments it made in the past.” Hen-
son, 582 U. S., at ___–___ (slip op., at 10–11).
   Instead of a hard-earned victory won through the demo-
cratic process, today’s victory is brought about by judicial
dictate—judges latching on to a novel form of living literal-
ism to rewrite ordinary meaning and remake American law.
Under the Constitution and laws of the United States, this
Court is the wrong body to change American law in that
way. The Court’s ruling “comes at a great cost to repre-
sentative self-government.” Hively, 853 F. 3d, at 360
(Sykes, J., dissenting). And the implications of this Court’s
usurpation of the legislative process will likely reverberate
in unpredictable ways for years to come.
   Notwithstanding my concern about the Court’s trans-
gression of the Constitution’s separation of powers, it is ap-
propriate to acknowledge the important victory achieved to-
day by gay and lesbian Americans. Millions of gay and
lesbian Americans have worked hard for many decades to
achieve equal treatment in fact and in law. They have ex-
hibited extraordinary vision, tenacity, and grit—battling of-
ten steep odds in the legislative and judicial arenas, not to
mention in their daily lives. They have advanced powerful
policy arguments and can take pride in today’s result. Un-
der the Constitution’s separation of powers, however, I be-
lieve that it was Congress’s role, not this Court’s, to amend
Title VII. I therefore must respectfully dissent from the
28            BOSTOCK v. CLAYTON COUNTY KAVANAUGH, J., dissenting Court’s judgment.

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