appointed in 1994 by President Bill Clinton after having been a federal appeals court judge, a law professor, and a lawyer in several federal government posts, including as part of the Watergate special prosecution team.
He has usually supported LGBTQ+ rights, abortion rights, the Affordable Care Act, and other liberal causes, but he has taken issue with the idea that politics inform judicial rulings; he says judges simply apply the law as they see it.He joined the court’s majority in ruling for LGBTQ+ rights in 1996’s Romer v.
Evans, which struck down an antigay law in Colorado; 2003’s Lawrence v. Texas, which invalidated all remaining antisodomy laws; and 2020’s Bostock v.
Clayton County, with the court holding that federal law against sex discrimination included discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.He also joined the majority in marriage equality cases: in 2013, Windsor v.