Rand Paul wants the federal government to stop overseeing marriage

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published 29 June 2015

Presidential hopeful Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) spoke out for the first time Sunday on the Supreme Court's decision to grant same-sex couples the right to marry nationwide. He argued the federal government shouldn't oversee marriage at all, regardless of a given couple's genders, in a Time op-ed:

The Constitution is silent on the question of marriage because marriage has always been a local issue. Our founding fathers went to the local courthouse to be married, not to Washington, D.C. I've often said I don't want my guns or my marriage registered in Washington. [Time]

He also said he disagreed with the court's decision, but believes "all Americans have the right to contract," backing Justice Clarence Thomas' dissent, which argues individual liberty is not connected to government entitlement.

"There is a reason [our Constitution] was the first where rights came from our creator and therefore could not be taken away by government," Paul wrote.

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Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.