Yet Another GOP Congressman Suggests Civil Rights Act Is Unconstitutional (Video)

U.S. Senator Rand Paul isn’t the only member of Congress who has suggested the Civil Rights Act of 1964 might be unconstitutional. Enter U.S. Congressman Ted Yoho, a freshman Tea Party Republican elected in 2012 to serve the people of Florida’s 3rd district.

On Monday, the Congressman held a town hall and a few of his constituents came to hear what he had to say.

“One such voter was Melvin Flournoy, a 57-year-old African American from Gainesville, who asked Yoho whether he believes the Civil Rights Act is constitutional,” Think Progress reports:

The easy answer in this case — “yes” — has the benefit of also being correct. But Yoho found the question surprisingly difficult.

“Is it constitutional, the Civil Rights Act?” Yoho repeated before giving his reply: “I wish I could answer that 100 percent.” The Florida Republican then went on to strongly imply it may be unconstitutional: “I know a lot of things that were passed are not constitutional, but I know it’s the law of the land.”

Think Progress notes that “while Yoho is unsure about the legality of the Civil Rights Act, he has no problem invoking the memory of civil rights leaders in his party’s zeal to repeal Obamacare. ‘It only takes one with passion — look at Rosa Parks, Lech Walesa, Martin Luther King,’ Yoho said while discussing the GOP’s attempt to defund Obamacare, which led to a government shutdown last year.”

Watch:

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The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. It legally ended the “whites only” era when African-Americans could be refused service because of who they were.

Introduced into the House on June 20, 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 took exactly one year to pass the House and the Senate. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 2, 1964.

Days after taking office, Congressman Yoho said the Second Amendment allows Americans to own all the weapons the U.S. Armed Services have, suggesting a nuclear weapon logically should be included. Last summer he said ObamaCare’s ten percent tax on tanning bed usage is “racist” against white people. And in December, Rep. Yoho honored the one-year anniversary of the Sandy Hook Massacre with a free gun buying class — for kids.

You can read the Civil Rights Act of 1964 here:

Civil Rights Act of 1964

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