Santorum tussles with Rachel Maddow

GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum went head-to-head with talk show host Rachel Maddow Wednesday night over whether Congress could ignore the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage ruling. 

{mosads}In his nearly nine-minute appearance on her program, avowed conservative Christian Santorum argued that the court is not a “superior branch of government,” specifically in reference to last month’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage.

“When did it become the law of the land that the Supreme Court has the final say on anything? They cannot have the final say on anything, the American people have the final say on anything. That’s the country I live in,” the former Pennsylvania senator said.

“My feeling is, and I think it’s clearly from our founding documents, that the Congress has a right to say what’s constitutional. The president has a right to say what’s constitutional. And that’s part of the dynamic called checks and balances.”

Maddow pushed back. “You’re fundamentally wrong on civics, right? If there is a question as to the constitutionality of a law, it gets adjudicated,” she said.

“The second syllable of that word means it gets decided in the judiciary; the Supreme Court decides whether or not a law is constitutional. So, you could not now pass a law that said we’re banning same-sex marriage.”

When Maddow panned any bill Congress would pass to overturn the decision, outside of a Constitutional amendment, as “moot,” Santorum suggested that the court could change its mind on the issue.

“Maybe between the time they decided that decision and Congress acted, things could have happened and they could have misread the tea leaves that are going on in America right now,” he said.

“If you have a new group of justices, I think you might very well get a different decision.”

When pressed by Maddow as to whether he believes that people choose to be gay, Santorum said that while he never answers that question, he’s met people “who identified themselves as gay and lesbian and who no longer are.”

Santorum did say he made a mistake in mentioning bestiality and same-sex sexual relations in the same breath back in 2003, in comments where he’s been accused of linking the two. 

He said that while he never equated the two, he regrets the comments.

“I wish I had never said that,” he said.

“It was a flippant comment that should not have come out of my mouth. But the substance of what I said, which is what I referred to, I stand by that. I wish I had not said it in a flippant term that I did.”

Despite the political differences between guest and host, the segment ended with a handshake.

Santorum, who placed second in the 2012 Republican presidential primary, is currently  outside of the top 10 in the crowded GOP presidential field.