Mitt Romney’s Other Flip-Flop: Follow the Court or the Constitution?

From Amy Contrada:

Mitt Romney swore this oath on January 2, 2003 when he became Governor of Massachusetts:

I do solemnly swear and affirm that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all of the duties incumbent upon me as Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts according to the best of my abilities and understanding, agreeably, to the rules and regulations of the Constitution and the laws of this Commonwealth, so help me God.

Mitt Romney has claimed that he “took every conceivable step within the law to defend traditional marriage.” This is simply not true. In fact, all he had to do to prevent “gay marriage” from beginning in 2004 was follow the clear separation of powers laid out in the state Constitution. But instead, he kowtowed to the state high court’s dream of “gay marriage” in its 2003 opinion, Goodridge v. Department of Public Health.

Romney’s liberal tendencies have been well noted, especially with regard to RomneyCare, TARP, gun control, abortion, climate change, and immigration policy. But his failure to stand up for constitutional principles and conservative values following the Goodridge opinion is perhaps his largest failing. That ruling was possibly the most significant perversion of judicial authority since Roe v. Wade. Yet Romney called it “law” that he must implement and follow.

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