CNN’s Margaret Hoover Rips Ted Cruz’s ‘Pandering to the Bigots’ in Saying Supreme Court Was Wrong to Legalize Gay Marriage

CNN commentator Margaret Hoover accused Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) of “pandering” to right-wing bigots by saying the Supreme Court wrongly decided the case that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.

Hoover joined New Day on Monday to talk about Cruz’s recent comments that the Supreme Court was “clearly wrong” when it decided the 2015 landmark case of Obergefell v. Hodges. She called this “the latest inanity from Ted Cruz” before calling him out for “pandering not just to the base of the Republican Party, but to the worst kind of bigotry in the Republican Party.”

“The Texas GOP has just passed this plan saying that being gay is ‘abnormal,'” she noted. “And so, if you’re part of the Republican Party in Texas, you subscribe to this notion that being gay is abnormal now.”

The discussion went on as Hoover brought up Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurring opinion on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, wherein he suggested the overturning of Roe v. Wade could lead to a review of Obergefell and other cases.

“Of course, Clarence Thomas didn’t suggest we should reexamine Loving V. Virginia — which the Obergefell ruling is based on — which argues that marriage is a fundamental right,” Hoover said. “Of course, the Loving V. Virginia decision is about interracial marriage, of which Clarence Thomas benefits from that law and that reading of the Constitution. So all of this is circular inanity and pandering to the bigots.”

John Avlon hopped into the conversation from there as he and Hoover discussed the growing national sentiment in favor of same-sex marriage and whether Cruz was trying to gather more political support for a future presidential campaign.

Watch above, via CNN.