Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) Said Tuesday that he thinks interracial marriage should not be nationally legal and that individual states should decide whether to allow it.
“So you would be OK if the Supreme Court left the question of interracial marriage to the states?” Reporter Dan Carden of The Times of Northwest Indiana asked Brown.
“Yes,” the senator responded to the call with Indiana Reporter. “I think that’s something – if you do not want the Supreme Court to be overwhelmed by such issues, you can not eat your cake either. I think that is hypocritical.”
The Supreme Court legalized interracial marriage throughout the country in 1967, in the landmark case Loving v. Virginia.
The world where Brown returned is what same-sex couples faced until 2015 – their marriage was not federally recognized and could be legal in one state but not the next. This type of discrimination has implications in every corner of life, including medical decisions and family planning.
Brown later withdrew his comments, claiming he misunderstood the question.
“Earlier during a virtual press conference, I misunderstood a series of questions that ended on interracial marriage, let me be clear on that topic – there is no question that 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, at all levels and by all states, entities or individuals, “he said in a statement to HuffPost.
Brown’s argument came on the second day of the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson. Brown is not on the Justice Committee, but he will ultimately vote on whether to confirm her. Jackson himself is in an interracial marriage.
In a call with reporters, Brown said he wants a justice that no “activist” will be, and he quoted Roe v. Wade, the case of 1973, which legalized access to abortion, as an example of judicial activism. To strike, he said, would be “bringing it back to a neutral point where this issue should never be federalized.”
He said that the “expression of individual states” should be allowed to shine through.
“If you want this diversity to shine in our federal system, then there are rules and procedures that are out of sync, perhaps with what other states would do. That is the beauty of the system,” he said of a world where people of different races are not allowed to marry everywhere.
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