Huckabee: Governor Romney acted unconstitutionally on "gay marriage"

Romney Should Not Have Complied with Court on Same-Sex Marriage, Says Huckabee*
Monday, August 25, 2008
By Terence P. Jeffrey, Editor-in-Chief, CNSNews.com

(CNSNews.com) — Former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Ark.) says that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Calif.) and former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.) should not have complied with decisions by their state supreme courts that ordered legal recognition of same-sex marriages.

In an exclusive video interview with CNSNews.com, Huckabee said that, had he been in Romney's shoes, he would not have used his executive power as governor to carry out the court's unilateral declaration that the [state] must certify same-sex marriages.

"You know, it's interesting, the California decision as well as the Massachusetts decision, I don't think should ever have been implemented by the governors, Schwarzenegger and Romney," said Huckabee. "They were both decisions that the governors simply could have said the court has said that we have to do it, but let them enforce it. Because those were administrative decisions that had to put that in place and there was no mandate."

"I would not have done that," said Huckabee, who taped an appearance on CNSNews.com's "Online with Terry Jeffrey" on August 15.

In a 4-3 decision issued on Nov. 18, 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry in Massachusetts. The court gave the state legislature until May 17, 2004, to enact legislation to allow such marriages to take place.

In the intervening time, the Massachusetts legislature did not enact a law codifying same-sex marriages. Before the May 17, 2004, deadline, however, then-Gov. Romney directed that the words "bride" and "groom" on Massachusetts marriage applications be changed to "Party A" and "Party B."

Romney's chief legal counsel, Daniel Winslow, told justices of the peace in Massachusetts that they should carry out the decision of the court [even though the court did not require them to do so] and perform same-sex marriages or resign.

"My message was: 'You took an oath, and you don't have to agree or disagree with the law, you took an oath to uphold the law. Your only job is to follow the law,'" Winslow told Pete Winn of CNSNews.com in January. "We'll leave it to the courts to litigate what the law is, but once the courts have ruled, if you've taken an oath under the constitution, you have to follow your oath."

[Note by Amy Contrada: As a State Rep. candidate in 2010, Winslow was endorsed and thanked by the homosexual-transgender lobby for his support of the "gay marriage" ruling while acting as Gov. Romney's Chief Legal Counsel. It was Winslow who devised the "Party A/Party B" designation and who conducted the training sessions for Town Clerks and Justices of the Peace.]

Some justices of the peace did resign rather than use the "Party A" and "Party B" marriage applications to conclude same-sex marriages. One of these was Kathleen Harvey of Bellingham, Mass.

"I chose to resign," Harvey told Pete Winn of CNSNews.com in January. "I personally didn't feel that same-sex marriages were marriages. If they were civil unions, I don't think that would have bothered me, but I personally didn't feel they were marriages. I just didn't want to be officiating at one of those ceremonies."

In fact, after the court-ordered May 17, 2004, deadline, then-Gov. Romney himself — who [says he] opposes same-sex marriage — did not allow all same-sex marriages to go forward in Massachusetts. Citing a 1913 Massachusetts law that said the state should not carry out marriages of individuals from other states if those marriages would not be recognized in the individuals' home states, Romney told clerks in Massachusetts not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples from out of state.

''Massachusetts should not become the Las Vegas of same-sex marriage,'' Romney told the New York Times in April 2004. ''We do not intend to export our marriage confusion to the entire nation.''

[Note by Amy Contrada: But even this "1913 law" was not strictly enforced. Only the couple's word (no documents) were required as proof of Massachusetts residency. See reports in Associated Press and Boston Globe here and here.]

...When asked whether Romney's decision to comply with his state supreme court's order to allow same-sex marriages should disqualify him as a Republican vice-presidential nominee in 2008, Huckabee said: "Well, you know, I've not probably been an advocate for him in that position. And, you know, I am going to let him defend himself. And I don't want to relive the primary. But I think that that was a very unfortunate position that he took in saying that, 'Well, I can't do anything about it.' Oh, yes you can."

Huckabee said he did not hold Romney "singularly" responsible for same-sex marriages in Massachusetts, but that he did hold him "responsible for implementing" them.

"He could have stopped it, and should have stopped it," Huckabee said.

Asked if he would have had clerks and justices of the peace certify same-sex marriages had he been in Romney's position, Huckabee said: "Absolutely not."

"In my state, we passed an amendment to our constitution that declared marriage to be one man, one woman, by a 70-percent margin," Huckabee said in explaining his position. "I would have said that the people have a stronger right, if you will, than does one of three branches of government. And when you have a legislature, an executive branch, and the people, all lined up agreeing that marriage means man and woman, you can't have a court overturn the collective will of all those other bodies. That, again, it goes back to ninth grade civics. The courts aren't that powerful, never were intended to be."

... Jeffrey: Governor Romney should have stood up to the Court and said, "No"?

Huckabee: He should've.