Ted Cruz says Supreme Court ‘clearly wrong’ decision legalizing same-sex marriage

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Saturday that the Supreme Court was “clearly wrong” and “overreaching” when it legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges 2015 ruling.

The remarks from Cruz, who has been open about his interest in another presidential run, came just weeks after the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision that guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion. 

Cruz, a longtime opponent to same-sex marriage who believes both issues should be left to the states, echoed conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who argued in his concurring Roe opinion that the court “should reconsider” past rulings, including Obergefell as well as opinions that protected the right to same-sex intimacy and contraception.

“Obergefell, like Roe v. Wade, ignored two centuries of our nation’s history,” Cruz said on his podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz. “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.”

“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 now we know better than you guys do, and now every state must, must sanction and permit gay marriage,” Cruz continued. 

“I think that decision was clearly wrong when it was decided. It was the court overreaching.”

As the Supreme Court appeared poised to overturn Roe this year, fears that it could also reverse the precedent set in Obergefell prompted some state lawmakers to enshrine same-sex marriages into state law.