Watch Sen. Ted Cruz and Seth Meyers politely debate gay marriage
Seth Meyers' Late Night audience was mixed politically on Monday night, which became apparent when guest Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) brought up his ObamaCare filibuster and Meyers asked knowingly how that worked out for him. Cruz noted that ObamaCare is unpopular, which led Meyers to bring up gay marriage. With 59 percent of Americans supporting gay marriage now, including 40 percent of Republicans, he said, why did Cruz think it a good time to support a bill letting states decide whether to allow same-sex marriage?
"Listen, I'm a constitutionalist," Cruz began. "For over 200 years, marriage has been a question for the states. Now, personally, I believe in traditional marriage between one man and one woman, but if you want to change the marriage laws, the way to do it constitutionally is convince your fellow citizens, go to the state legislature, and change it. It shouldn't be the federal government or unelected judges imposing their own definition of marriage — we should instead respect our constitutional system." Meyers wasn't buying it: "You know, I read the Constitution this morning, and I'm not sure you're right on all that stuff." The federal courts aren't, either. We'll probably find out if the Supreme Court agrees with Cruz sometime soon. —Peter Weber
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