Private: Rep. Michele Bachmann Says Courts Should Be Stripped of Power to Uphold Equality

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, founder of the House’s Tea Party Caucus, and weighing a 2012 presidential run, told a gathering at a Christian school in Iowa that lawmakers should restrict the federal courts from ruling on marriage equality.

 “At the federal level with what are called article three courts, article three of the United States Constitution, we can limit the subject matter that justices can rule on,” Bachmann (pictured) told an audience at the Pella Christian High School. “We have it within our authority to decide what judges can rule on and what they can’t. Any time the people speak, they say with one voice that marriage is one man, one woman. Why would we expect any different?”

Bachmann, who garnered attention for recently saying that the first shots of the Revolutionary War occurred in New Hampshire, also slammed the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” saying that the military has been used for “social engineering.” She added, “You’ll hear a lot of phony baloney polls, but our military is set against the policy.”

Putting aside polling on DADT, top military officials, including Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates were supporters of the repeal. In addition, as the Palm Center notes, former Defense secretaries, including Donald Rumsfeld, have also supported repealing the ban on openly gay service members.

Think Progress has video of Bachmann’s remarks here, and concludes, “At the end of the day, however, Bachmann’s court-stripping plan is nothing less than an assault on the Constitution itself. Bachmann does not like the fact that Constitution requires gay people to be afforded the same legal protections as everyone else, so she wants to hamstring the courts from according equal protection to all Americans.”

Bachmann’s claim that Congress can and should strip the courts of the ability to rule on marriage equality, also apes the efforts of other politicians bent on catering to the Religious Right. U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, weighing another run for the presidency, was the proponent of a “We the People Act,” aimed at stripping the federal courts from ruling on an array of social issues.

[image via Gage Skidmore]

Constitutional Interpretation, Equality and Liberty, LGBTQ Equality, Supreme Court