The combination of the overturning of Roe v. Wade and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s concurring opinion hints the conservative-slanted court is on track to undo more decisions. One of these pertains to the landmark 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges case, which established same-sex marriage as a constitutional right. CNN reports that Sen. Ted Cruz believes that the ruling is “clearly wrong” and the decision should go back to the states.
Cruz’s line of thinking aligns with the majority of Republicans who think that states should be able to decide the laws for themselves. Once Roe v. Wade was overturned, 13 states had “trigger laws” to outlaw or severely limit abortion services. If the Supreme Court were to undo Obergefell’s decision, one would have to think the same rash of laws anticipating a potential ruling will happen again.
“Obergefell, like Roe v. Wade, ignored two centuries of our nation’s history,” Cruz said in a clip posted on his YouTube channel for his podcast. “Marriage was always an issue that was left to the states. We saw states before Obergefell, some states were moving to allow gay marriage, and other states were moving to allow civil partnerships. There were different standards that the states were adopting.”
As Politico points out, Sen. Cruz said the 2015 ruling was the “very definition of tyranny” and urged states to ignore it. Cruz’s fellow Texas Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) claimed the Supreme Court created a right “not even mentioned in the Constitution” and proceeded to call the court’s “independence and the legitimacy ... into question.” Cruz claims the Supreme Court “overreached” with its decision.
Cruz added: “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. In Obergefell, the court said, ‘No, we know better than you guys do, and now every state must, must sanction and permit gay marriage.’”
“I think that decision was clearly wrong when it was decided,” Cruz said. ‘It was the court overreaching.”
Who’s to say that states with Republican-dominated legislation bodies won’t go farther if the Supreme Court overturns a right to contraceptives established in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)? 71% of Americans are for same-sex marriage, but it’s not like Republicans are tuned in to the will of the people.