Former Governor Mike Huckabee Says States Should Disobey Supreme Court Marriage Rulings

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee says states should ignore Supreme Court rulings they disagree with.

Mike Huckabee was the Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas from 1993 to 1996. He was then the governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. And from 2005 to 2006 he served as the Chairman of the National Governors Association. So, you might think Mike Huckabee knows a thing or two about the job of governor and how government works. Apparently, you’d be wrong.

Huckabee is a perennial Republican candidate for president, and a money-making machine who has a dozen books listed at Amazon – including his soon-to-be-released, God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy. He’s also an ordained Southern Baptist minister, which may be why on Monday he told Iowa-based conservative talk show host Steve Deace that God trumps the Constitution, and anyone who has taken a ninth-grade civics class should know that. 

Of course, anyone who has taken a ninth-grade civics class knows that you have to follow the law of the land, and here in the United States, the Supreme Court gets the final say on what the law actually is.

LOOK: Huckabee: Democrats Want Women To Think They Need Government To ‘Control Their Libido’

But Mike Huckabee says that lawmakers and politicians — like Congress and the President — should look at Supreme Court rulings as merely good, non-binding advice. Kind of like what you get from your mother.

“Well, the courts have spoken and it’s an important voice,” Huckabee says, “but it’s not the voice of God and the Supreme Court isn’t God.”

While it’s good he’s able to make that distinction, he forgets that in this life, the Supreme Court gets the final say.

But not according to Huckabee’s Constitution, apparently. If the Supreme Court issues a ruling, “but the other two branches of government choose not to agree that they have correctly interpreted the Constitution… then it’s not law yet.”

Of course, that’s false.

Talking about Roe v. Wade, Huckabee says, “I look back to 1973 and I’m wondering what would have happened if the two branches of government, the executive and the legislative, simply said, ‘We appreciate your opinion, court, but now if states wish to empower that, I guess they can do so, but until that happens we’re not automatically going to go killing 55 million babies over the next 40 years.’”

Huckabee then blames “the courts” for “the big cultural changes” made over the past few decades, like “Bible reading, public expression of faith, abortion, same-sex marriage. In every case the other two branches, and the public, for the most part, capitulated and said, ‘Well, the courts have spoken.'” 

Huckabee seems to think that was the wrong way to go, that anarchy would be better.

“What I’m hoping will happen,” Huckabee continued, “is that somewhere there will be a governor who will simply say, ‘No, I’m not going to enforce that’” same-sex marriage ruling.

Listen:

UPDATE: Over at Talking Points Memo, Ed Kilgore writes, “It’s no wonder a pol who is also a Southern Baptist minister, Mike Huckabee, reacted to the Supreme Court’s action this week by hinting at active defiance of judicial authority. That’s the opposite of a dog whistle; it’s a loud insurrectionary shout that will scare GOP donors and swing voters alike.”

 

Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr
Audio and hat tip: Right Wing Watch

 

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Mike Huckabee: Same-Sex Marriage Supporters Not ‘On The Right Side Of The Bible’