Republican Texas Senator and presidential hopeful Ted Cruz spoke to TODAY's Savannah Guthrie on Monday about the latest Supreme Court rulings in an appearance Monday to discuss his new book, "A Time For Truth: Reigniting the Promise of America."
When asked by Guthrie about his comments that the court rulings upholding the health care law and making same-sex marriage legal was "a dark day for America," Cruz said that a majority of the Supreme Court justices, whom he called "5 unelected lawyers...violated their judicial oaths." Cruz thinks it should be up to the states to vote for gay marriage laws.
Cruz said he would support a Texas state clerk that refused to marry a gay couple on religious grounds, even though gay marriage was just ruled legal nationwide by the Supreme Court. "Religious liberty is right at the foundation of our country," said Cruz.
Cruz also defended his views to support a constitutional amendment that would subject Supreme Court justices to "retention elections." When Guthrie asked him why he would support changing something the nation's founders did not intend, Cruz said the Supreme Court had become politicized. "The elites on the court look at most of the country as flyover country," he said.
