Friday, March 29, 2024

Would Walker Sign the Bill Cruz Just Introduced on Marriage?

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (left) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) (photo credit: Shane Vander Hart)
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (left) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) (photo credit: Shane Vander Hart)

I had the opportunity to meet with both Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) while they were out in Iowa for the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition in Waukee, IA.  We discussed various issues in including Common Core, but I wanted to focus on their marriage comments for The Pulse 2016 readers.

Both men support a federal marriage amendment, but Cruz is being proactive.  Walker is holding out hope for a positive SCOTUS decision.  Cruz is willing to take on the courts.

Walker told me when I asked what should be done to address federal judges intervening in state constitutional amendments and laws:

I’m still hoping.  I may be one of the few out there, but I’m still hoping that the U.S. Supreme Court, not in our case, but it would apply to our state’s case if these other states are victorious.  I still am going to hope that the United States Supreme Court will say, “yes indeed, states have a right to define what marriage is.”

I voted for that as a state lawmaker in legislation.  I voted for that as just a voter in Wisconsin’s Constitution. I defended it as Governor along with our Attorney General in the federal court, the Court of Appeals and tried to get it to the U.S. Supreme Court.  But my hope is that the U.S. Supreme Court will do that.  If they don’t, the only other viable option out there is to support a constitutional amendment, which I would, believing not just in marriage being defined as one man, one woman, but I also believe in states rights.  I believe that is an issue that appropriately belongs in the states.

Cruz in my discussion with him later in the day when I asked him about a bill that Congressman Steve King (R-Iowa) sponsored said:

I filed a bill that would do the same thing so Steve King is a good friend, he and I agree on a great many issues, and this week I filed two pieces of legislation.  One was a constitutional amendment that would protect the authority of the states to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman which is what the law has been from the entire history of our country.  From the day the constitution was ratified, marriage has been a question for the states, and it is only in the last couple of years that you have seen the federal government and unelected federal judges launching an assault on marriage.

The second piece of legislation I filed, that is very similar to Steve King’s legislation, is legislation that would strip the federal courts of jurisdiction over lawsuits seeking to tear down traditional marriage.  The Constitution explicitly gives Congress the power to restrict the jurisdiction over the courts and that is what this legislation does.

Obviously, being in the U.S. Senate, Cruz has the ability to be proactive, but I still would have like to hear from Walker what he was willing to take on out-of-control federal judges.  Would a President Walker sign the bill that Cruz filed?

Shane Vander Hart is the online communications manager for American Principles in Action, a frequent contributor to TruthInAmericanEducation.com, and the editor of Iowa-based CaffeinatedThoughts.com.

More From The Pulse