Elections

Rubio: The Supreme Court’s Same-Sex Marriage Ruling Is ‘Bad Law’ [VIDEO]

Steve Guest Media Reporter
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Republican presidential candidate [crscore]Marco Rubio[/crscore] says the Supreme Court’s ruling to allow same-sex marriage is “bad law” and that it should have been left up to state legislatures to change the definition of marriage.

Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday with host Chuck Todd, Rubio argued that he disagrees with same-sex marriage on “constitutional grounds” because he doesn’t believe the Constitution “gives the federal government the power to regulate marriage.”

Todd asked Rubio if as president he would work to overturn this, and Rubio said, “I think it is bad law. And for the following reason: If you want to change the definition of marriage, then you need to go to state legislatures and get them to change it because states have always defined marriage.”

“And that’s why some people get married in Las Vegas by an Elvis impersonator and in Florida you got to wait a couple of days when you get your permit,” Rubio suggested. “Every state has different marriage laws, but I do not believe that the court system was the right way to do it.”

Todd asked Rubio later about using a constitutional amendment to overturn same-sex marriage and Rubio said “that would be conceding that the current Constitution is somehow wrong and needs to be fixed.”

“I don’t think the current Constitution gives the federal government the power to regulate marriage. That belongs at the state and local level,” Rubio explained.

“And that’s why, if you want to change the definition of marriage, which is what this argument is about, it’s not about discrimination, it is about the definition of a very specific traditional and age old institution. That definitional change, if you want to change it, you have a right to petition your state legislature and your elected representatives to do it,” Rubio argued.

“What is wrong, is that the Supreme Court has found this hidden Constitutional right that 200 years of jurisprudence had not discovered and basically overturned the will of voters in Florida, where over 60 percent passed a constitutional amendment that defined marriage in the state Constitution as the union of one man and one woman.”

While same-sex marriage is “current law, I don’t believe any case law is settled law, any future Supreme Court can change it and ultimately, I will appoint Supreme Court justices that will interpret the Constitution has originally constructed,” Rubio insisted.

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