Texas Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican,
on Monday told Iowa talk radio host Jan Mickelson that rulings
striking down state bans on gay marriage threaten “our liberty.”
When Mickelson asked whether states
could simply ignore a Supreme Court ruling invalidating such bans,
Cruz answered “We can try” before going on to explain his
proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
“What I have already pledged that I
will do is introduce a constitutional amendment to make absolutely
clear that marriage is a question for the states. And if the
citizens of the state of Iowa or the citizens of the state of Texas
want to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman that
the states have the constitutional authority to do so and that the
federal government and unelected judges cannot set aside the
democratically-elected legislature's reasonable decisions to enact
and protect traditional marriage.”
Cruz said his amendment would be a
“Tenth Amendment argument.”
“If the courts were following the
Constitution, we shouldn't need a new amendment. But they are, as
you put it quite rightly, making it up right now and it's a real
danger to our liberty,” he
added.