Just days before the New Hampshire
primary, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz on Saturday
criticized the Supreme Court's June finding that gay and lesbian
couples have a constitutional right to marry.
Appearing at a campaign stop in New
Hampshire, Cruz reiterated his opposition to the ruling, calling it
“fundamentally wrong,” and criticized Republicans presidential
candidates who accepted the court's ruling.
“You know, last June when the Supreme
Court issued its gay marriage decision a number of the Republican
candidates responded by saying this is the settled law of the land,
we must surrender, accept it and move on,” Cruz said.
“Those were word for word the talking
points of Barack Obama. There's something fundamentally wrong when
Republican presidential candidates are mirroring Barack Obama's
talking points.”
“That was a time for choosing. I'll
tell you my view. My view is that decision was fundamentally wrong.
It was illegitimate. It was inconsistent with the constitution. It
was judicial activism. If a candidate's not willing to take that
stand, then we should know they won't take that stand as president
either,” he added.
Cruz appeared to be targeting GOP rival
Donald Trump, who is polling ahead of Cruz in New Hampshire. While
Trump has repeatedly said that he's opposed to marriage equality, his
initial response to the ruling was that it was a dead issue for the
GOP.
“Anybody that's making that an issue
is doing it for political reasons,” he
told The
Hollywood Reporter. “The Supreme Court ruled on it.”