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The Constitution and the Cleveland GOP debates
Among the topics covered in Thursday’s two GOP debates were several points about the Constitution.
By National Constitution Center staff, August 7, 2015
The nationally televised debate 9 p.m. run by Fox News featured 10 leading Republican candidates discussing some pointed questions from cable news channel’s anchors. The earlier 5 p.m. debate featured seven candidates. And as with other political debates, the candidates’ answers often veer from the questions, allowing several candidates to make constitutional points.
In transcripts provided after the event, the word “Constitution” was used seven times in the 9 p.m. event and six times in the 5 p.m. debate, but there were certainly other constitutional references.
Read The 9 P.M. Debate Transcript | The 5 P.M. Debate Transcript
Here is a quick look at those constitutional references.
1. The Fourth Amendment
Fox News host Megyn Kelly asked a direct question to Chris Christie about Rand Paul’s opposition to the National Security Agency’s data-collections policies, which Paul and other believe violate Fourth Amendment privacy provisions.
“Do you really believe you can assign blame to Senator Paul just for opposing the people’s bulk collection of phone records in the event of a terrorist attack?” Kelly asked Christie.
That led to a combative exchange between Christie and Paul about national security and the Fourth Amendment.
“I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from innocent Americans. The Fourth Amendment is what we fought the revolution over,” Paul said. “I’m proud of standing for the Bill of Rights and I will continue to stand for the Bill of Rights.”
Christie countered with a comment that current surveillance measures with proper safeguards were needed to ensure national security.
“Use the Fourth Amendment. Get a warrant. Get a judge to sign a warrant,” Paul responded.
“You know senator, when you’re sitting in a sub-committee just blowing hot-air about this, you can say things like that. When you’re responsible for protecting the lives of the American people, then what you need to do is to make sure that you use the system the way it’s supposed to work,” Christie retorted.
“Here’s the problem governor. You fundamentally misunderstand the Bill of Rights,” Paul replied, saying he was concerned about searches without warrants.
2. Roe v. Wade
Mike Huckabee argued that the Fifth and 14th Amendments extended to the legal rights of unborn children at the point of conception, in a long-standing argument that goes back to the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade.
Specifically, Chris Wallace asked Huckabee why we supported constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriages and abortions.
“I think the next president ought to invoke the Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution now that we clearly know that that baby inside the mother’s womb is a person at the moment of conception,” Huckabee said, adding that “the Supreme Court is not the supreme being.”
Marco Rubio also clarified his stance on abortion laws and specifically his alleged comments supporting abortion-ban exceptions – which he disputed.
“What I have advocated is that we pass law in this country that says all human life at every stage of its development is worthy of protection. In fact, I think that law already exists. It is called the Constitution of the United States.”
In the 5 p.m. debate, Rick Santorum got into specifics when asked about Rove v. Wade being “settled law.”
“It is not any more than Dred Scott was settled law to Abraham Lincoln, who, in his first inaugural address, said ‘it won’t stand.’ And they went ahead and passed laws in direct contravention to a rogue Supreme Court. This is a rogue Supreme Court decision, just like Justice Roberts said. There is no constitutional basis for the Supreme Court’s decision.”
3. Federalism and states’ rights
Huckabee talked about more control at a state level over programs and departments administered by the federal government.
“The fact is there are a lot of things happening at the federal level that are absolutely beyond the jurisdiction of the Constitution. This is power that should be shifted back to the states, whether it’s the EPA, there is no role at the federal level for the Department of Education,” Huckabee told Bret Baier.
4. Executive orders
At 9 p.m., Ted Cruz said his first act as president would be to reverse executive orders issued by President Obama.
“If I’m elected president, let me tell you about my first day in office. The first thing I intend to do is to rescind every illegal and unconstitutional executive action taken by Barack Obama,” Cruz said.
On the 5 p.m. debate, the candidates were asked about their first day in office, and all said they would undo President Obama’s executive orders.
5. The First Amendment and Religious Liberty
Kelly asked Rand Paul about the Supreme Court’s recent same-sex marriage and how that affects the religious liberty of individuals whose business decision could be influenced by their personal beliefs.
“Look, I don’t want my marriage or my guns registered in Washington. And if people have an opinion, it’s a religious opinion that is heartly felt, obviously they should be allowed to practice that and no government should interfere with them,” Paul said.
6. The Supreme Court
In the 5 p.m. debate, Rick Santorum spoke about Roe v. Wade, and former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore called out the current Court in general.
“I believe we should be appointing Supreme Court justices who will follow the law and not try to make the law. Now, the challenge we’re seeing today is that the Supreme Court is being converted into some type of political body,” Gimore said. “They have to have some legal basis and precedence for being able to follow the law instead of making the law up, and my goal is — in appointing Supreme Court justices, would be to point — to appoint justices who would follow the law.”
7. Other topics
In general, there was widespread condemnation of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, by most of the candidates who were asked about the issue, or found a way to work it into their responses. Immigration was also discussed at length, with several pointed comments from Donald Trump.
John Kasich also said he would respect the Supreme Court’s recent same-sex marriage decision despite his personal beliefs. “I’m an old-fashioned person here, and I happen to believe in traditional marriage,” Kasich said. “The court has ruled, and I said we’ll accept it.”
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