There is a certain bench that presidential contenders long to fill. It's the Holy Grail of appointments: the Supreme Court.
Since Supreme Court Justices serve lifetime terms, getting a justice or two on the bench means leaving a legacy that far outlives your time in office.
And while all the GOP candidates know this, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, has been particularly outspoken lately about his dream of filling the court with justices who would try to undo marriage equality.
Back in November, Rubio said we should just ignore the marriage equality ruling since God didn't like it.
During that same interview Rubio said, "I think one of the biggest things the next president is going to do is appoint justices to the Supreme Court — justices who understand that the Constitution is not a living and breathing document. It is a document of limitation and it's supposed to be interpreted and applied based on its original intent. And there is no way that you can read that Constitution and deduce from it that there is constitutional right to an abortion, or a constitutional right to marry someone of the same sex."
Ah, the old, "The Constitution is like the Bible, perfect the first time and intended as, well, gospel." Except for the fact that the Constitution has been amended many times, and the Bible has been translated and retranslated and rewritten and revised many, many times. My personal favorite is "The Action Bible," where Jesus is transformed into a comic book hero. I bet the Apostles never saw that one coming!
It's interesting that Rubio insists that since the Constitution doesn't say anything about abortion or marriage equality, Americans thus do not have a right to these things. The Constitution also doesn't say anything about assault weapons with huge magazines capable of mowing down a crowd of people in seconds. Yet somehow that always makes its way into tea party Founding Fathers fan fiction.
On Dec. 13 Rubio told Chuck Todd on "Meet the Press" that marriage equality is "bad law."
He does not, however, favor an anti-gay constitutional amendment. "That would be conceding that the current Constitution is somehow wrong and needs to be fixed," he said.
Granted, I don't want an anti-gay marriage amendment to the Constitution, but Rubio seems to be ignoring the fact that any amendments have ever been made. The right for women to vote, for example, is number 19.
But don't worry, because Rubio says, "It's not about discrimination."
"It is about the definition of a very specific, traditional and age-old institution. If you want to change it, you have a right to petition your state Legislature and your elected representatives to do it," he said.
Never mind the hideousness of putting the rights of minorities up for a vote by the majority. If you look at history, you'll see benevolent state Legislatures helping vulnerable minorities all over the place. Ha ha. Just kidding. It's the opposite of that.
Of course, Rubio doesn't see LGBT people as a minority group deserving of equality. He doesn't seem to see LGBT people as people at all.
"I don't believe any case law is settled law," Rubio continued. "Any future Supreme Court can change it. And ultimately, I will appoint Supreme Court justices that will interpret the Constitution as originally constructed."
In other words, he wants to fill the bench with right-wing ideologues who will be making law long after Rubio leaves office. Which is why it's so important that he — or his GOP opponents — never get elected in the first place.
