Ted Cruz Bashes ‘Clearly Wrong’ Gay Marriage Ruling After Supreme Court Strikes Down Roe v. Wade
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) said the Supreme Court was “clearly wrong” to legalize gay marriage nationwide, his comments coming weeks after the strike down of Roe v. Wade.
Cruz recently spoke with conservative commentator Liz Wheeler on his Verdict podcast, where they brought up the legal vulnerabilities of Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark 2015 case that effectively legalized same-sex marriage across America. The senator compared Obergefell to Roe by saying they both “ignored two centuries of our nation’s history. Marriage was always an issue that was left to the states.”
“We saw states before Obergefell that were moving. Some states were moving to allow gay marriage. Other states were moving to allow civil partnerships,” he continued. “There were different standards that the states were adopting, and had the court not ruled in Obergefell, the democratic process would have continued to operate.”
Cruz eventually arrived at the core of his argument that the Supreme Court overrode states rights with the Obergefell ruling.
“The court said ‘no, we know better than you guys do.’ Now every state must sanction and permit gay marriage,” Cruz said. “I think that decision was clearly wrong when it was decided. It was the court overreaching.”
On the likelihood of Obergefell getting overturned, Cruz seemed uncertain because the issue of abortion in Roe is “qualitatively different” to same-sex marriage. However, his comments come after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said in his concurring opinion that the case’s overturn means the court should review of “demonstrably erroneous decisions” based on substantive due process.
Thomas’ examples included Obergefell, along with Griswold v. Connecticut (which granted married persons the right to obtain contraceptives), and Lawrence v. Texas (the right to engage in private, consensual sexual acts). Jim Obergefell denounced Roe’s overturn in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, and he seemed to make an insinuation toward Thomas by wondering about the possible overturn of Loving v. Virginia, the case that legalized interracial marriage nationwide.
Watch above, via Verdict With Ted Cruz.
