Watch Sen. Ted Cruz and Seth Meyers politely debate gay marriage

Seth Meyers and Ted Cruz debate gay marriage
(Image credit: Late Night)

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

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.