Who Are The 80 Republicans Asking The Supreme Court To Support Same-Sex Marriage?
Over 80 Republicans have signed an amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to find a constitutional right to marriage for same-sex couples. Who are these extraordinarily supportive Republicans? They’re largely those who have served in top-level Republican National Committee (RNC) posts, the George W. Bush administration, Congress, or are GOP strategists. They also largely have little to lose, as they’re not running for re-election, with the exception of Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Richard Hanna (image: bottom left and right).
But many had previously supported only so-called “traditional marriage,” and many also supported a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, so the message to the Supreme Court is huge.
WATCH: Supreme Court And Gay Marriage: Thomas Roberts And GOProud’s Jimmy LaSalvia Discuss GOP Support
READ:Â Meg Whitman Joins 74 Top Republicans In Signing Supreme Court Brief To Overturn Prop 8
“Backers have been working for about three months on the list, which includes Republicans who have been wrestling for year on what position to take on the issue,” Politico reports:
AFER said the signers include “social and political conservatives, moderates, and libertarians from diverse religious, racial, regional, and philosophical backgrounds.â€
Ken Mehlman, a board member of AFER who managed former President George W. Bush’s reelection campaign and personally secured many of the signatures, said in an email to POLITICO: “Ronald Reagan, our great conservative President, used to say, real change occurs around the kitchen table. This brief is reflective of real change occurring all across our country as families sit around kitchen tables, think about the value of family to their own lives and recognize these benefits should be available to all Americans.â€
While the Supreme Court has received dozens if not over 100 amicus briefs on same-sex marriage for next month’s hearings, they will have little effect. This one, however, is different.
“Experts say that amicus briefs generally do not change Supreme Court justices’ minds,” the New York Times reports:
But on Monday some said that the Republican brief, written by Seth P. Waxman, a former solicitor general in the administration of President Bill Clinton, and Reginald Brown, who served in the Bush White House Counsel’s Office, might be an exception.
Tom Goldstein, publisher of Scotusblog, a Web site that analyzes Supreme Court cases, said the amicus filing “has the potential to break through and make a real difference.â€
He added: “The person who is going to decide this case, if it’s going to be close, is going to be a conservative justice who respects traditional marriage but nonetheless is sympathetic to the claims that this is just another form of hatred. If you’re trying to persuade someone like that, you can’t persuade them from the perspective of gay rights advocacy.â€
So, who are the 80+ Republicans on the list?
AFER offers the most-current list:
- Ken Mehlman, Chairman, Republican National Committee, 2005-2007
- Tim Adams, Undersecretary of the Treasury for International Affairs, 2005-2007
- David D. Aufhauser, General Counsel, Department of Treasury, 2001-2003
- Cliff S. Asness, Businessman, Philanthropist, and Author
- John B. Bellinger III, Legal Adviser to the Department of State, 2005-2009
- Katie Biber, General Counsel, Romney for President, 2007-2008 and 2011-2012
- Mary Bono Mack, Member of Congress, 1998-2013
- William A. Burck, Deputy Staff Secretary, Special Counsel and Deputy Counsel to the President, 2005-2009
- Alex Castellanos, Republican Media Advisor
- Paul Cellucci, Governor of Massachusetts, 1997-2001, and Ambassador to Canada, 2001-2005
- Mary Cheney, Director of Vice Presidential Operations, Bush-Cheney 2004
- Jim Cicconi, Assistant to the President & Deputy to the Chief of Staff, 1989-1990
- James B. Comey, United States Deputy Attorney General, 2003-2005
- R. Clarke Cooper, U.S. Alternative Representative, United Nations Security Council, 2007-2009
- Julie Cram, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director White House Office of Public Liaison, 2007-2009
- Michele Davis, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs and Director of Policy Planning, Department of the Treasury, 2006-2009
- Kenneth M. Duberstein, White House Chief of Staff and Assistant to the President, 1981-1984 and 1987-1989
- Lew Eisenberg, Finance Chairman, Republican National Committee, 2002-2004
- Elizabeth Noyer Feld, Public Affairs Specialist, White House Office of Management and Budget, 1984-1987
- David Frum, Special Assistant to the President, 2001-2002
- Richard Galen, Communications Director, Speaker’s Political Office, 1996-1997
- Mark Gerson, Chairman, Gerson Lehrman Group and Author of The Neoconservative Vision: From the Cold War to the Culture Wars and In the Classroom: Dispatches from an Inner-City School that Works
- Benjamin Ginsberg, General Counsel, Bush-Cheney 2000 & 2004
- Adrian Gray, Director of Strategy, Republican National Committee, 2005-2007
- Richard Grenell, Spokesman, U.S. Ambassadors to the United Nations, 2001-2008
- Patrick Guerriero, Mayor, Melrose Massachusetts and member of Massachusetts House of Representatives, 1993-2001
- Carlos Gutierrez, Secretary of Commerce, 2005-2009
- Stephen Hadley, Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor, 2005-2009
- Richard Hanna, Member of Congress, 2011-Present
- Israel Hernandez, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, 2005-2009
- Margaret Hoover, Advisor to the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, 2005-2006
- Michael Huffington, Member of Congress, 1993-1995
- Jon Huntsman, Governor of Utah, 2005-2009
- David A. Javdan, General Counsel, United States Small Business Administration, 2002-2006
- Reuben Jeffery, Undersecretary of State for Economic, Energy, and Agricultural Affairs, 2007-2009
- Greg Jenkins, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Presidential Advance, 2003-2004
- Coddy Johnson, National Field Director, Bush-Cheney 2004
- Gary Johnson, Governor of New Mexico, 1995-2003
- Robert Kabel, Special Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs, 1982-1985
- Theodore W. Kassinger, Deputy Secretary of Commerce, 2004-2005
- Jonathan Kislak, Deputy Undersecretary of Agriculture for Small Community and Rural Development, 1989-1991
- David Kochel, Senior Advisor to Mitt Romney’s Iowa Campaign, 2007-2008 and 2011-2012
- James Kolbe, Member of Congress, 1985-2007
- Jeffrey Kupfer, Acting Deputy Secretary of Energy, 2008-2009
- Kathryn Lehman, Chief of Staff, House Republican Conference, 2003-2005
- Daniel Loeb, Businessman and Philanthropist
- Alex Lundry, Director of Data Science, Romney for President, 2012
- Greg Mankiw, Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers, 2003-2005
- Catherine Martin, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Communications Director for Policy & Planning, 2005-2007
- Kevin Martin, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission, 2005-2009
- David McCormick, Undersecretary of the Treasury for International Affairs, 2007-2009
- Mark McKinnon, Republican Media Advisor
- Bruce P. Mehlman, Assistant Secretary of Commerce, 2001-2003
- Connie Morella, Member of Congress, 1987-2003 and U.S. Ambassador to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2003-2007
- Michael E. Murphy, Republican Political Consultant
- Michael Napolitano, White House Office of Political Affairs, 2001-2003
- Ana Navarro, National Hispanic Co-Chair for Senator John McCain’s Presidential Campaign, 2008
- Noam Neusner, Special Assistant to the President for Economic Speechwriting, 2002-2005
- Nancy Pfotenhauer, Economist, Presidential Transition Team, 1988 and President’s Council on Competitiveness, 1990
- J. Stanley Pottinger, Assistant U.S. Attorney General (Civil Rights Division), 1973-1977
- Michael Powell, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission, 2001-2005
- Deborah Pryce, Member of Congress, 1993-2009
- John Reagan, New Hampshire State Senator, 2012-Present
- Kelley Robertson, Chief of Staff, Republican National Committee, 2005-2007
- Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Member of Congress, 1989-Present
- Harvey S. Rosen, Member and Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers, 2003-2005
- Lee Rudofsky, Deputy General Counsel, Romney for President, 2012
- Patrick Ruffini, eCampaign Director, Republican National Committee, 2005-2007
- Steve Schmidt, Deputy Assistant to the President and Counselor to the Vice President, 2004-2006
- Ken Spain, Communications Director, National Republican Congressional Committee, 2009-2010
- Robert Steel, Undersecretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance, 2006-2008
- David Stockman, Director, Office of Management and Budget, 1981-1985
- Jane Swift, Governor of Massachusetts, 2001-2003
- Michael E. Toner, Chairman and Commissioner, Federal Election Commission, 2002-2007
- Michael Turk, eCampaign Director for Bush-Cheney 2004
- Mark Wallace, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Representative for UN Management and Reform, 2006-2008
- Nicolle Wallace, Assistant to the President and White House Communications Director, 2005-2008
- William F. Weld, Governor of Massachusetts, 1991-1997, and Assistant U.S. Attorney General (Criminal Division), 1986-1988
- Christine Todd Whitman, Governor of New Jersey, 1994-2001, and Administrator of the EPA, 2001-2003
- Meg Whitman, Republican Nominee for Governor of California, 2010
- Robert Wickers, Republican Political Consultant
- Dan Zwonitzer, Wyoming State Representative, 2005-present
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Maine Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner is under fire after releasing a video declaring that new allegations against him are false, yet he is “taking time to reflect” on a path forward.
Politico on Monday afternoon reported that a woman who dated Platner, Jenny Racicot, “says he forced her to have sex with him nearly five years ago despite her repeated objections, an allegation Platner denies.”
“Racicot said she had an on-and-off relationship with Platner,” Politico reported, “for more than two years before he entered her rural Maine home uninvited one night in late 2021, deeply intoxicated, and forced himself on her while she repeatedly told him to stop. She said she cut off contact with him after telling him the encounter was not consensual.”
In a video posted to social media eleven minutes after the Politico story dropped, Platner says, “I wanted to directly address the troubling, serious, and false allegations against me. Any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false.”
He said he and his supporters “were united in a love of Maine, a belief that our politics must change, in a focus on defeating Susan Collins.”
“So, regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful the political reality will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement I belong to, and the goal of defeating Susan Collins.”
“Those were the goals when we launched this campaign. And they remain my goals today.”
“Throughout it all, you never turned your back on me. And I will not turn my back on you now. Every one of you deserves to see that vision come to fruition and see Susan Collins defeated. And we will use every tool at our disposal to do so.”
The Bulwark’s Tim Miller, a political commentator who served as the communications director for the Jeb Bush 2016 presidential campaign, blasted Platner.
“I’m sorry but ‘we are taking time to reflect on the best path forward’ is not an option on the table,” Miller wrote. “Either it’s false and you campaign with vigor or it’s true and you get out / apologize to everyone you let down.”
Journalist Ryan Grim, commenting on Platner’s video, noted that Platner “strongly suggests he is considering dropping out. Already Troy Jackson and Chellie Pingree, both gubernatorial candidates, are being kicked around in Maine circles as potential replacements.”
Several others, including Puck News’ Peter Hamby, predicted Platner will be dropping out.
Platner had postponed several campaign events before the Politico story was published.
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) July 6, 2026
President Donald Trump is facing backlash after posting a video of children — including showing their unblurred faces — graduating from kindergarten, with some of the girls purportedly wearing hijabs.
“President Trump posted a captionless video of graduating kindergarteners on Truth Social on Monday, goading his supporters into verbally attacking little children simply for being Muslim,” The New Republic reported. “The clip is from Gateway STEM Academy, a majority-Black K-8 public charter school in St. Paul, Minnesota. It shows about 21 children in caps and gowns on stage singing a song together. Most of the girls are wearing hijabs.”
The original post of the video which Trump reposted reads: “Public school in St. Paul, Minnesota. Every girl is in a hijab … in kindergarten.”
Trump did not add any comments. TNR called the post “Islamophobic, weird, and creepy,” while noting that the comments section of Trump’s post was filled with calls “by racist, xenophobic MAGA supporters” to “deport the children and ban hijabs.”
TNR also noted that it “should come as no surprise that Trump isn’t above attacking children who just learned how to read, but this post is still particularly discomforting—and will certainly contribute to the already potent level of anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. and in Minnesota.”
Critics blasted Trump.
“There is something deeply unsettling about the president of the United States—the most powerful person in the world—going after kindergarten schoolchildren in Minnesota because they wore hijabs, as Trump has done this morning on his website,” The Bulwark’s Sam Stein wrote.
One social media commentator wrote, “Trump posted an unblurred video of more than a dozen Muslim kindergartners to Truth Social, exposing the children’s faces while targeting them for their religion.”
Another added, “Trump is a bigot. The president took to Truth Social to attack kindergarteners in hijabs. These are little kids. The president isn’t just a bigot, he’s also a coward.”
The original video was posted to the X social media platform in June.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) at the time commented, “If you are in a public school in America, you should be speaking english.”
Image via Reuters
President Donald Trump’s apparent efforts to delay releasing the $5.8 million civil judgment to E. Jean Carroll are being met with a warning by the journalist’s legal team, who suggest there could be a legal maneuver for Trump to employ to forgo paying the judgment in either of the two cases he lost.
According to The Guardian, on July 4, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered Trump to release the $5.8 million judgment, which is in escrow, to Carroll by this coming Tuesday — or explain why he would not do so.
Carroll’s attorneys think Trump may be trying to buy time to mount another legal strategy, telling the judge that Trump’s request for an extension “appears to be little more than yet another play for time.”
“The case is separate from Trump’s appeal of a Manhattan civil jury’s 2024 award of $83.3m to Carroll for defamation,” The Guardian explains. “But her lawyers have suggested a legal scenario in which the president might seek to conjoin the cases and further delay payment of both.”
Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan (no relation to the judge) wrote, “We can only assume that defendant is seeking … to buy time so he can try to concoct some new basis to put off paying plaintiff presumably in connection with his forthcoming petition and motion for a rehearing.”
Trump’s former attorney, Justin Smith, in one of his final acts, wrote to the Supreme Court suggesting that his client would be appealing the $83.3 million civil judgment.
Smith argued that the Supreme Court “may wish to consider the petitions together,” given they involve the same parties.
The larger judgment case involves possible questions of presidential immunity, and that has Carroll’s attorneys concerned.
“A conjoined case, Carroll’s lawyers fear, could result in both judgments being wiped out,” The Guardian reports.
The president has also made clear he is no fan of Judge Kaplan, after the jurist made several rulings that “angered” Trump.
“What else can you expect from a Trump Hating, Clinton appointed judge, who went out of his way to make sure that the result was as negative as it could possible be,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in 2023, “speaking to, and in control of, a jury from an anti-Trump area which is probably the worst place in the US for me to get a fair ‘trial’.”
Image via Reuters
Platner Scorched Over ‘Taking Time’ Video After New Accusation
Trump Sparks Fury Online After Posting Unblurred Video of Muslim Kindergartners in Hijabs
One Legal Maneuver Threatens to Undo Everything E. Jean Carroll Won
Inside the Group Helping MAGA Voters Walk Away — And What Finally Pushed Them
