MSNBC host Rachel Maddow on Wednesday night sat down with former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) for an interview on same-sex marriage, which led to a heated debate over the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that gay couples have the right to marry.
Santorum told Maddow that the Supreme Court “is not a superior branch of government” and argued that Congress can still pass a law regarding same-sex marriage.
Yet Maddow insisted that Congress could only pass a constitutional amendment that directly contradicts a Supreme Court ruling. Santorum disagreed and said that all three branches of government can determine what is constitutional.
“You’re fundamentally wrong on civics,” Maddow responded. “If there is a question as to the constitutionality of a law, it gets adjudicated. And the second syllable in that word means it gets decided in the judiciary. The Supreme Court decides whether or not a law is constitutional. So you could not now pass a law that said, ‘We’re banning same-sex marriage.'”
Santorum maintained that Congress could still pass a law and that the Supreme Court could then change its mind on same-sex marriage.
Maddow then asked Santorum whether being gay is a choice, and he said he was uncertain.
“I’ve sort of never answered that question because I don’t really know the answer to that question,” he said.
“There are people who are alive today who identify themselves as gay and lesbian and who no longer are,” he added after Maddow continued to press him on the issue.
Watch Maddow’s interview with Santorum via MSNBC:
