Newt Gingrich has warned of a judicial
crisis if the Supreme Court upholds a federal court's ruling against
California's gay marriage ban, Proposition 8.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on
Tuesday upheld a lower court's decision that found the ban to be
unconstitutional.
(Related: Court
says gay marriage ban Prop 8 violates 14th
Amendment.)
“With today's decision on marriage by
the Ninth Circuit, and the likely appeal to the Supreme Court, more
and more Americans are being exposed to the radical overreach of
federal judges and their continued assault on the Judeo-Christian
foundations of the United States,” Gingrich said in a statement
released on his website.
“Federal judges are substituting
their own political views for the constitutional right of the people
to make judgments about the definition of marriage.”
Citing earlier slavery and abortion
cases, Gingrich added: “Judicial solutions don't solve contentious
social issues once and for all.”
“Should the Supreme Court fail to
heed the disastrous lessons of its own history and attempt to impose
its will on the marriage debate in this country by affirming today's
Ninth Circuit decision, it will bear the burden of igniting a
constitutional crisis of the first order.”
He added that it could take generations
to recover from “a crisis of legitimacy for the federal judiciary.”
Other GOP presidential candidates have
also spoken out against the ruling. Frontrunner
Mitt Romney said the judges had incorrectly interpreted the
Constitution. Rick
Santorum said the ruling effectively called opponents of marriage
quality “haters” and “bigots.”