Over the weekend (July 16), an episode of Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s podcast, “Verdict With Ted Cruz,” featured the politician voicing strong opinions on same-sex marriage. During his conversation, he argued that in 2015 the United States Supreme Court made the wrong decision to allow such unions to be legal.
“I think that decision was clearly wrong when it was decided,” he said. Cruz continued, “It was the court overreaching. Obergefell, like Roe v. Wade, ignored two centuries of our nation’s history. Marriage was always an issue that was left to the states. We saw states before Obergefell, some states were moving to allow gay marriage, other states were moving to allow civil partnerships. There were different standards that the states were adopting.” Cruz objecting to same-sex marriages is nothing new. In a story published in 2015 by NPR, he announced his opposition to the same-sex unions would be “front and center” for his 2016 presidential campaign.
“That is very much front and center something I intend to campaign on,” he said at the time. The senator added, “And marriage and religious liberty are going to be integral, I believe, to motivating the American people to come out and vote for what’s, ultimately, restoring our constitutional system.”
During Sunday’s podcast episode, Cruz appeared to stand firm in his beliefs. “The way the Constitution set up for you to advance that position is convince your fellow citizens, that if you succeeded in convincing your fellow citizens, then your state would change the laws to reflect those views,” he stated. “In Obergefell, the court said, ‘No, we know better than you guys do, and now every state must, must sanction and permit gay marriage,’” Cruz said.
According to CNN, Justice Clarence Thomas also recently stated the court “should reconsider” same-sex marriage. Thomas was one of the justices who voted in favor of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade last month.