Possible GOP presidential candidates
Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee are among those who signed a pledge
to defy a Supreme Court ruling striking down state bans on gay
marriage.
The nation's highest court will hear
oral arguments in a case challenging bans in four states – Ohio,
Michigan, Tennessee and Kentucky – on Tuesday, with a ruling
expected in June.
Signers to the pledge promise to “stand
together in defense of marriage,” claiming that a ruling allowing
nationwide same-sex marriage would hurt children.
“As a policy matter, such unions
convey the message that moms and dads are completely irrelevant to
the well-being of children. Such a policy statement is
unconscionable and destructive. Authorizing the legal equivalency of
marriage to same-sex couples undermines the fundamental rights of
children and threatens their security, stability, and future,” the
pledge states.
A ruling favoring plaintiffs would be
wrong, they said, comparing it to the Dred Scott decision of 1857
which said that Scott, a slave, could not buy his own freedom.
“The Supreme Court was wrong when it
denied Dred Scott his rights and said, 'blacks are inferior human
beings.' And the Court was wrong when Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes
wrote in Buck v. Bell, 'three generations of imbeciles are
enough,' thus upholding Virginia's eugenics law that permitted forced
sterilization.”
“In these earlier cases, the
definition of 'human' was at issue. Now the definition of 'marriage'
is at issue. The Constitution does not grant a right to redefine
marriage – which is nonsensical since marriage intrinsically
involves a man and a woman. Nor does the Constitution prohibit
states from affirming the natural created order of male and female
joined together in marriage.”
“We will view any decision by the
Supreme Court or any court the same way history views the Dred Scott
and Buck v. Bell decisions. Our highest respect for the rule
of law requires that we not respect an unjust law that directly
conflicts with higher law. A decision purporting to redefine
marriage flies in the face of the Constitution and is contrary to the
natural created order. As people of faith we pledge obedience to our
Creator when the State directly conflicts with higher law. We
respectfully warn the Supreme Court not to cross this line.”
Along with Huckabee and Santorum,
signers include former House Republican leader Tom Delay and Focus on
the Family founder James Dobson.