Sen. Ted Cruz has grabbed headlines and sparked a backlash over his opinion about the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision legalizing same-sex marriage. “I think that decision was clearly wrong when it was decided," Cruz said on his “Verdict with Ted Cruz” podcast Sunday, per USA Today. "It was the court overreaching." He went on to invoke states’ rights, saying the decision in Obergefell v. Hodges "ignored two centuries of our nation’s history. Marriage was always an issue that was left to the states."
Cruz’s position is unsurprising, given that he told NPR in 2015 that he intended to put opposition to gay marriage “front and center” in his bid for the GOP presidential nomination, according to Newsweek, which also notes that Cruz’s opinion is out of line with a solid majority of Americans. According to 2021 Gallup polling, 70% approve of same-sex marriage, including 83% of Democrats, 55% of Republicans, and 73% of independents. However, Cruz’s comments were in line with Justice Clarence Thomas, who went further than his conservative colleagues in his concurring opinion last month overturning Roe v. Wade, writing that prior decisions regarding contraception, sodomy, and gay marriage were "demonstrably erroneous" and should be revisited.
The Independent reports that Cruz was lampooned on social media for his comments, including from Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, who tweeted: “If you thought Republicans were done dragging our country backwards—think again. They feel more emboldened than ever to turn back the clock on our rights.” In an opinion piece on CNN, Dean Obeidallah says Cruz’s comments raise red flags—not only for his stance on marriage rights but also for his emphasis on states’ rights, an argument that has “long been used to deprive Americans of fundamental freedoms” and which continues to trend in conservative circles around various social issues. (Critics have noted that Thomas, whose wife is white, avoided the topic of interracial marriage in his opinion.)
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