Mike Huckabee thinks there's a law that 'black people aren't fully human'
- Jacob Shamsian, INSIDER
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Wednesday that the 1857 US Supreme Court decision Dred Scott v. Sandford, which ruled that people "of the African race" are not US citizens, is still "the law of the land."
The ruling, widely considered the worst in American history, was overruled in 1868 by the 14th Amendment.
The Republican presidential candidate made the remarks to radio host Michael Medved shortly after Huckabee's rally in support of Kim Davis, a county clerk who refused to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
BuzzFeed broke the story and has a recording of the audio.
"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," Huckabee said. "Does anybody still follow the Dred Scott decision?"
Medved quickly corrected Huckabee, telling him that the Dred Scott decision was overturned, although he incorrectly said it was overturned by the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, rather than the 14th, which addressed citizenship rights.
The decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford established that African Americans, whether slaves or free, could not be citizens. It also ruled that the federal government could not regulate slavery in territories and that slaveowners could not be deprived of their Fifth Amendment rights to "property," including slaves.
Obergefell v. Hodges, ruled on in June, established the nationwide legality of same-sex marriage.
Huckabee said he wouldn't try to overrule Obergefell with a constitutional amendment.
"It goes back to what Jefferson said, which is that if a decision is rendered that is not borne out by the will of the people, either by the elected representatives and going through the process," Huckabee said. "If you just say it's the law of the land because the court decided it, then Jefferson said, 'you now have surrendered to judicial tyranny.'"
Huckabee has repeatedly referred to the Supreme Court justices who ruled in favor of gay marriage as "five unelected lawyers," and said Thursday that by acting without a congressional mandate the decision was akin to Dred Scott.
"They made it up, and they made it up out of thin air," Huckabee said. "Therefore, until Congress decides to codify that and give it a statute, it's really not an operative law."
John Marshall, the fourth Supreme Court chief justice, who was in office from 1801 to 1835, established the court's right to judicial review. The doctrine grants the Supreme Court the final authority to judge whether the legislative or executive branches are acting within the powers granted to them in the Constitution.
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