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Senator Mike Braun (R-IN) said in a video on Tuesday that he believes states should be able to outlaw interracial marriage.
Mike Braun answered questions from reporters about various Supreme Court cases. At one point, Braun stated he did not believe abortion should have been legalized by the Supreme Court. The Senator based his logic on a belief that the Court should not make sweeping decisions about constitutional rights.
During the recording, a reporter asked if Braun applied those same beliefs to a topic like interracial marriage.
Senator calls states being able to outlaw interracial marriage “the beauty of the system”
“Would you apply that same basis to something like Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court case that legalized interracial marriage?” the caller asked. “Should that have been left up to the states?”
“There are going to be rules and procedings that may be out of sync with what other states are going to do,” Braun said. “That’s the beauty of the system.”
“That’s where the differences among points of view in our fifty states ought to express themselves,” Braun continued.
“So you would be okay with the Supreme Court leaving the question of interracial marriage to the states?” the caller asked again.
“Yes,” Braun said.
Comments come during confirmation hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson
Bruan’s comments come as Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman ever nominated to the US Supreme Court, continues her confirmation hearings. Judge Jackson’s husband is Dr. Patrick Jackson, who is white. The current nominee to the United States Supreme Court could not have wed the love of her life without the Supreme Court’s decision in Loving v. Virginia.
In addition, Judge Jackson grew up in the diverse Miami public school system. Her parents, however, attended segregated schools growing up. Despite intense backlash from segregated states, the Supreme Court unanimously outlawed de-jure segregation in its 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision. The principle of the Brown decision was nearly identical to the Loving decision thirteen years later.
Both of these cases shaped Judge Jackson’s life, as well as, it should be noted, the life of the sitting Vice President of the United States.
Roughly nineteen in twenty Americans favor interracial marriage, according to a 2021 study. It is unclear which six percent of Americans agree with the assertion states should be able to outlaw it.