Jim Obergefell Speaks At Law School And Fed Soc Entirely Predictably Loses Its Mind

Jim Obergefell lends his name to one of the most significant Supreme Court civil rights opinions in American history. Hearing his journey through the courts is a great opportunity for young law students to learn about the human side of the cases they read every day. So when the LGBT Law Forum at Notre Dame invited Obergefell to speak at an event held last night, law nerds were obviously excited to meet a real-life legal celebrity. In fact, three real-life celebrities, because Michael De Leon and Greg Bourke were also speaking about their struggles even though their names aren’t at the top of the citation. The event drew 225 people and filled the venue.

And, as you might expect, the Fed Soc gang lost their s**t.

In a letter to the editor of the student paper, Deion Kathawa, the Fed Soc membership coordinator at Notre Dame, decided to go off on the whole concept of bringing Obergefell on campus.

The email announcement from the student-run LGBT Law Forum describing the event says that they are “so excited to have Jim on campus and to put a face to the name that is synonymous with our community receiving equality and acceptance under the law.” This is an odd statement, however, because court decisions don’t generate “acceptance,” and they certainly don’t confer equality or dignity — they merely recognize them.

Looks like someone’s not gotten to the legal positivism part of the book yet. But even in the most cynical interpretation of “originalism,” this doesn’t make any sense. Conservatives are quick to report that Janus gave teachers the right to usher in the gig economy for public schooling. There was an interpretation that barred that behavior… when it was changed that granted those freeloaders a legal right they didn’t have the day before. It’s entirely contrived to pretend court opinions don’t have affirmative impacts.

Even so, the litigants — of course — have every right to speak about their experiences under the First Amendment’s free speech clause.

Weird flex while talking about a private school, but since the First Amendment is the right’s new trojan hobby horse, it needed to make an appearance.

The kid really thinks the school should be giving equal time to Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Cakeshop as if the school has much of anything to do with this.

But something tells me that isn’t going to happen. Certainly not without a lot of controversy. Call me cynical, but I also have a sneaking suspicion that any future invitation to someone like Jack, if it comes at all, won’t be coming from the LBGT Law Forum….

Good guess. The LGBT Law Forum put on this event. If Fed Soc wants to invite bargain basement Cake Boss to rant about making America great again while serving Chick-fil-A then they can probably do that.

UPDATE: But they probably won’t because this is actually one of the issues where the Federalist Society is genuinely divided. After all, Fed Soc legend Ted Olson led the charge along with David Boies on the California Prop 8 case. The current president of the Notre Dame chapter, Michael Murtha, reached out to me to reiterate that this column by one member is not indicative of the organization’s stance and was written without the group’s endorsement. In fact, LGBT Law Forum representatives pointed out that they have a positive, collaborative relationship with the Notre Dame Fed Soc group as a whole.

In the meantime, they’ll have to content themselves by ripping the quality of the Obergefell decision, pointing out that pretty much nobody thinks this opinion makes any goddamned sense — which is true — but that’s a reason why they’re not inviting Justice Kennedy any time soon. It’s not Obergefell’s fault that Kennedy couldn’t bring himself to write the straightforward opinion folks expected.

Nicholas Santulli, one of the incoming presidents of the LGBT Law Forum, summarized the event:

We are extremely grateful to Jim Obergefell Michael De Leon and Greg Bourke for sharing their inspiring stories and humanizing the law. Those in attendance were deeply moved. Several of my classmates shed tears, and the lecture didn’t even feature any cold calls.

But the closing argument from the Fed Soc student is that Notre Dame, as a Catholic institution, needs to not cater to gay rights:

If you didn’t know it before, it would behoove you to hear it now. The Church is metaphysically incapable of teaching error, and for her to say marriage is possible between two persons of the same sex would be for her to teach error (just as she would teach error if she were to say that marriage can be between more than just two persons, irrespective of sex).

The Notre Dame chapter of the Federalist Society will trot out Alberto Gonzales to speak in a couple weeks. Gonzales infamously approved the United States torture efforts, something the Vatican has labeled a mortal sin. Meanwhile, the official Catholic teaching on homosexuality is certainly not an endorsement, but also states that homosexuals “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity,” and “every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.”

Maybe Fed Soc needs to look in the mirror when it comes to following the metaphysical correctness of the Church.

For that matter, the school needs to get its act together too. Despite the edict quoted above, the school does not have language prohibiting discrimination against the LGBTQ community. Katelyn Ringrose, one of the current presidents of the Law Forum, placed the event in the context of the continuing struggle to get the school to update its policies:

Jim, Greg, and Michael fought for their right to marry. The LGBT Law Forum asks that everyone help us fight for the rights of all Notre Dame LGBT students, staff, and faculty. We ask for recognition under the University’s non-discrimination policy.

It’s a regulation that the school desperately needs having played host to a homophobic rant from faculty less than a year ago. Amending these rules is, quite actually, the absolute least the school could do. We’ll see if they can clear the world’s lowest bar.

The whole event is available below if you want to watch:

Why is Notre Dame rolling out the red carpet for Jim Obergefell? [The Observer]

Earlier: Law School Professor Goes On Homophobic Rant For The Ages

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Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.