Roy Moore: The Constitution Does Not Allow The Supreme Court ‘To Reinvent The Definition Of Marriage’

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore in a new interview late Tuesday afternoon says only states, not the nation’s highest court, can define marriage.

In a Tuesday afternoon interview with Bloomberg Politics’ Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, Roy Moore said that he does not allow same sex marriage and will never change his opinion on marriage.

Halperin, the managing editor of Bloomberg Politics and co-host of the site’s “With All Due Respect,” along with Heilemann, asked Moore if the late Gov. George Wallace was an “inspiration” to him. 

Moore responded his opposition to same-sex marriage has nothing to do with race, adding, “We don’t discriminate in Alabama. This is about marriage, and we don’t discriminate there either. All persons have the right to marry, a person of the opposite sex,” Moore told the reporters. He noted the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, which has been struck down as unconstitutional, was passed by 81 percent of voters.

The Chief Justice tried to claim that probate judges are not bound by a federal court’s ruling, but Halperin, a political reporter for over two decades, asked Moore, “Can you explain what the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution means to you then?”

Moore proceeded to recite it from memory.

He then claimed that the state judiciary and federal judiciary are equal, which is not what the Supremacy Clause says. Moore proceeded to recite from cherry-picked cases opinions that he seemed to believe support his claim. 

Moore later went on to claim that nothing in the U.S. Constitution allows the Supreme Court “to reinvent the definition of marriage.”

Asked directly what he will do if the Supreme Court rules in favor of same-sex marriage, Moore said, “I do not allow gay marriage anywhere. I will not change my opinion on the definition of marriage,” but he added, “the state courts would be bound” to abide by the Supreme Court ruling. 

But Moore also set up a constitutional challenge, by claiming that even though state courts are bound by the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Supreme Court constitutionally cannot extend marriage to same-sex couples because only the citizens of a state can redefine marriage – thus making a Supreme Court ruling in favor of same-sex marriage unconstitutional.

Asked about gay people, Moore said, “I’ve had many friends who are homosexual. I’ve treated people just like other people. This is not about how I treat people or how I go to a wedding.” Moore added that he would not attend a same-sex wedding.

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Editor’s note: This article has been updated for clarity. 

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