Mike Huckabee, Constitutional Scholar
Republican presidential candidate and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said on Wednesday that the Supreme Court decision that upheld slavery “remains to this day the law of the land.”
Huckabee appeared on conservative radio host Michael Medved’s show to defend Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis, who went to jail for contempt of court after refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses. The former governor compared the Supreme Court’s recent decision to legalize same sex marriage to the Dred Scott decision, which upheld slavery.
“Michael, the Dred Scott decision of 1857 still remains to this day the law of the land which says that black people aren’t fully human,” he told the radio host. “Does anybody still follow the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision?”
There are many things you can say about the decision so nice it had to be overruled by constitutional amendments twice. “The law of the land” is not one of them. (In fairness, some of Taney’s reasoning retains considerable influence in Republican legal circles, which makes Huckabee’s comments even more like rain on your wedding day.)
Take this as further proof that the winger Constitution consists of the 2nd Amendment, the 10th Amendment, and the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment* (*applicable when needed to select Republican presidents and eliminate affirmative action programs only.)