Former Pennsylvania Senator and 2012
presidential hopeful Rick Santorum told a crowd attending the
Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in D.C. that the
judiciary “has no right to redefine marriage.”
The 52-year-old opponent of gay rights,
including marriage, spoke
on Thursday.
“You talk about the tyranny of what's
going on in the last couple of years with ObamaCare and the Dodd
Frank bill and TARP and all of this government control of our lives.
And government telling us what to do. Taking freedom away from us,”
Santorum said.
“Well, if you lived in the trenches
of the social conservative movement you've seen this in America. You
saw it in the issue of life. When a group of judges decided, 'Well,
we're just smart enough and we're going to take that decision away
from you. We're going to take that power away from you to make that
decision.'”
“Or on the issue now recently of
marriage. That they are going to take that power away.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, the judiciary
cannot create life and it did not create marriage. And it has no
right to redefine either one of them.”
In an earlier interview with CNN News
editor-in-chief Terry Jeffrey, the
former lawmaker said opposition to gay rights is “common sense.”