Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) sparked the ire of the internet on Tuesday after telling reporters in a conference call he doesn’t believe interracial marriage should be legal nationwide and he would support the Supreme Court overturning decision that legalized it.
Asked if he would be okay with the Supreme Court “leaving the issue of interracial marriage to the states, Braun said: “Yes. If you are not wanting the Supreme Court to weigh in on issues like that, you are not going to be able to have your cake and eat it too.”
“We’re better off having states manifest their points of view, rather than homogenizing it across the country as Roe v. Wade did,” said Braun before reiterating that he is fine with interracial couples getting married in one state only for another state to refuse to recognize their marriage.
“This should be something where the expression of individual states are able to weigh-in on these issues through their own legislation, through their own court systems. Quit trying to put the federal government in charge,” he added.
came after he told reporters that he didn’t want a justice who was an “activist,” and that the court’s decision on Roe v. Wade was an example of such activism.
The Indiana Republican also argued that such issues should be left up to the states and that striking down Roe would bring “it back to a neutral point, to where that issue should never have been federalized.”
This prompted the question about whether he felt the same way about interracial marriage, which the court legalized in 1967, to which Braun, again, said “yes.”
Braun’s comments sparked an immediate backlash from legal experts and social media users across the internet.
“At this point, I have to ask, what are some of these Republican Senators doing??” Ben LaBolt, Biden White House advisor for Supreme Court nominations, wrote.
former Judiciary Committee counsel Eric Columbus put Braun’s comments in the context of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation.
“Senator Mike Braun says a state should have been allowed to prevent Ketanji Brown Jackson from marrying her husband,” Columbus wrote.
Social media users also wondered what Justice Clarence Thomas would say about Braun’s comments and pointed out that Mitch McConnell would be unhappy if his marriage to Elain Chao was all of the sudden “illegal.”
REPORTER: "You would be okay with the Supreme Court leaving the issue of interracial marriage to the states?"
SEN. MIKE BRAUN (R-IN): "Yes. If you are not wanting the Supreme Court to weigh in on issues like that, you are not going to be able to have your cake and eat it too." pic.twitter.com/jiVTMOpC01
— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) March 22, 2022
pretty sure a ban on interracial marriage is not constitutional
— Fillonious (@PhillyinRVA) March 22, 2022
How does Mitch McConnell feel about Sen. Braun saying that states should be able to invalidate McConnell's own marriage? https://t.co/KJlFCwz6Sg
— Andrew Joyce (@AndrewPaulJoyce) March 22, 2022
I assume he'd also be okay with certain states seizing all guns and ammunition from their residents?
— Stas (@sobchakheadband) March 22, 2022
Wow. If that's his belief it sort of invalidates the authority of the Supreme Court at all. There are *no* national standards of human rights or personal liberty? Or racial equality simply doesn't meet that bar? wtf?
— B. Santa Maria (@briansantamaria) March 22, 2022
Wait, why is interracial marriage an “issue” at all in 2022?!? Wtfffff
— brian (@SoBrianRowe) March 22, 2022
This is what they mean by “originalist”. It was a term coined by white separatists in the 90s and it means exactly that: only white male landowners having the right to vote and all minority rights nullified.
— GaspachoVampires🦇 (@VampireLestat) March 22, 2022
May want to talk to these two pic.twitter.com/0JmycCkERr
— Dee (@Dee1915maw) March 22, 2022
When you look at Braun you see a NEANDERTHAL
— David 🇺🇸🏳️🌈💙🌊 (@davidpsdem) March 22, 2022
Apparently it is in Indiana 👀
— Irony Is Dead (@IronyDead) March 22, 2022
I don't have words.. and the ones I do will get me banned…….
— 🌻𝓡𝓮𝓿.𝓓𝓻. 𝓚𝓲𝓶𝓶𝓲𝓮 ✨ (@DrRevKimberlyV1) March 22, 2022
Fun Fact: The Federalist Society bowtie has a silhouette of a literal slaveholder on it.
— Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser) March 22, 2022
Conservatives: liberals are engaged in hysterical fearmongering by suggesting conservatives want to pack the courts to claw back rights established for many decades
Also conservatives:https://t.co/spfxCxd6Ik
— RacistAFBabiesHat (@Popehat) March 22, 2022
Things mcconnell republicans want to ban
Books
Contraceptives
Interracial marriage
Woman's control over her body
Voting rights
Environmental protections
Labor freedom
Corporate accountability https://t.co/rysMiOu6ZQ— Bill Pascrell, Jr. 🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@BillPascrell) March 22, 2022
Braun later attempted to walk back his comments, at least as they pertain to Loving v. Virginia.
Sen Braun walks back his comments, saying he "misunderstood" the question.
"There is no question the Constitution prohibits discrimination of any kind based on race, that is not something that is even up for debate, and I condemn racism in any form…" https://t.co/qhkIkgaKY3
— Julie Tsirkin (@JulieNBCNews) March 22, 2022
