Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, a Republican, has criticized a gay marriage ruling handed down by a judge he recommended for the bench.

U.S. District Judge John E. Jones on May 20 struck down Pennsylvania's restrictive marriage ban without staying his decision. Pennsylvania became the 19th state, in addition to the District of Columbia, to allow gay couples to marry when Governor Tom Corbett decided not to appeal Jones' ruling.

In 2002, Santorum supported Jones' nomination to the bench, calling him “highly qualified.”

“We're all entitled to a mistake,” Santorum told The Huffington Post on Friday after he addressed a Road to Majority summit audience.

“The court has to stop being the judge and jury for the consciousness of America,” Santorum said of rulings striking down marriage bans. “That's not what the court's supposed to be. The court's supposed to uphold the Constitution, not change the Constitution based on what they think is the current mood of the day.”