Fox News' Bill O'Reilly on Tuesday
insisted that voters, not judges, should have the final say on
Proposition 8, California's gay marriage ban.
While discussing a ruling by the Ninth
Circuit Court of Appeals which upheld a lower court's decision
declaring Proposition 8 unconstitutional, O'Reilly accused the court
of not caring about what Californian voters wanted.
(Related: Court
says gay marriage ban Prop 8 violates 14th
Amendment.)
“Basically just two judges said, 'You
know what? We don't really care about you.'” O'Reilly told The
O'Reilly Factor guest panelists Lis Wiehl and Kimberly Guilfoyle.
“What you want really doesn't matter, because we say this is
unconstitutional to deny gays the right to marry.”
When Fox News legal analyst Wiehl
defended the court's right to rule on the issue, O'Reilly pounced,
arguing that the right to marry doesn't exist.
“Wiehl? Do you have a right to be
married? A constitutional right?”
“No, its regulated by the states.”
“From the jump, it's not a right
guaranteed by anything,” O'Reilly said.
“It's not a right,” Wiehl agreed,
“but it was given in California. It was a benefit that was
bestowed.”
Such rights cannot be bestowed by a
court, O'Reilly insisted.
“You just said you do not have a
right to marry under the constitution!” O'Reilly said.
“Yes,” Wiehl said. “But once
that right has been bestowed, you cannot take away the right.”
(Watch
the exchange at Mediaite.com.)