Marco Rubio presidential campaign, 2016/Federalism
From Ballotpedia
 Marco Rubio |
Current U.S. Senator (2011-Present) FL House of Representatives (2000-2009) |
 Republican candidate: |
2028 • 2024 • 2020 • 2016 |
This page was current as of the 2016 election.
Legislative
- Marco Rubio joined seven other U.S. senators in a letter, dated December 11, 2015, to the chair of the Federal Communications Commission to request that states be permitted to block municipal broadband service providers.[2]
- In 2015, conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt began asking Republican candidates on his show if they would be willing to use the Senate "nuclear option" in order to get rid of the filibuster and repeal Obamacare. Marco Rubio is one of a few candidates who was in favor of keeping the filibuster. His office said, "Senator Rubio is open to discussing all options to repeal Obamacare, but believes that the filibuster has been an important tool in stopping Democrats’ efforts to expand government."[3]
Judiciary
- Marco Rubio said on February 15, 2016, that Justice Scalia's death had “refocused” the presidential race. He continued, “It's like, hold on a second, this is not just about having somebody interesting there, about making a point or sending a message. This election is about electing someone who's going to replace Scalia with someone, and I think it kind of brought a little bit of seriousness and gravity to the decision before us."[4]
- Appearing on CBS News' Face the Nation on February 14, 2016, Rubio said that the Senate would not move forward on any nominee President Barack Obama put forward. When asked if he would accept such a moratorium if he were president, Rubio said he "would understand" it. In the interview, Rubio also described what qualities he thought a Supreme Court justice should have: "Does the justice – does this person that we're nominating have a consistent and proven record of interpreting the Constitution as initially meant? What did the society that wrote those words mean those words -- what did those words mean to that society at the time in which those words were written in the Constitution? ... I'm looking for people that are going to look at the Constitution and apply it and interpret it based on the original meaning of the words in that document."[5]
- During the Republican presidential debate on February 13, 2016, Rubio said the next Supreme Court justice should employ an originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. He said, "I do not believe the president should appoint someone. And it's not unprecedented. In fact, it has been over 80 years since a lame duck president has appointed a Supreme Court justice. And it remind [sic] us of this, how important this election is. Someone on this stage will get to choose the balance of the Supreme Court, and it will begin by filling this vacancy that's there now. And we need to put people on the bench that understand that the Constitution is not a living and breathing document. It is to be interpreted as originally meant."[6]
- Rubio also released the following statement on February 13, 2016: "Today, our nation has suffered a deep loss. Justice Scalia was one of the most consequential Americans in our history and a brilliant legal mind who served with only one objective: to interpret and defend the Constitution as written. One of the greatest honors in my life was to attend oral arguments during Town of Greece v. Galloway and see Justice Scalia eloquently defend religious freedom. I will hold that memory forever. The next president must nominate a justice who will continue Justice Scalia's unwavering belief in the founding principles that we hold dear. Jeanette and I mourn the loss of Justice Scalia, and our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Maureen and his family."[7]
- On December 13, 2015, Marco Rubio argued that the Constitution does not give “the federal government the power to regulate marriage.” He said, “I don't believe any case law is settled law. Any future Supreme Court can change it. And ultimately, I will appoint Supreme Court justices that will interpret the Constitution as originally constructed,"[8]
- President Obama nominated Mary Barzee Flores for the judgeship of United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in February 2015. Such posts are confirmed by the senators of the state, and as of August 2015, Rubio had not given his vote of approval. On August 25, 2015, members of the Why Courts Matter coalition held a demonstration in front of Rubio’s Orlando, Florida, office to protest Rubio’s six-month delay in confirming Barzee Flores to the federal judgeship. Staffers from Rubio's office told the protestors that Rubio was waiting for the Senate Committee to finish investigating the nominees.[9][10]
- In July 2015, Rubio called for Supreme Court justices to interpret the Constitution rather than write law. He said, "We apparently have five justices on the Supreme Court today that have forgotten the proper role of the Supreme Court. They view themselves as Super Legislators - basically the supervisors of the republic. They invent rights, they, they find and are basically writing law. The job of the Supreme Court is not to create law, it’s to interpret the Constitution as originally constructed and applied. The next president of the United States must nominate Supreme Court justices that believe in the original intent of the Constitution and apply that. We need more Scalias and less Sotomayors."[11]
- In January 2011, Rubio pledged "to support well-qualified judicial nominees who will interpret the laws of our land, not establish new policy from the bench as the Supreme Court did in Roe v. Wade 38 years ago."[12]
Government accountability
- In June 2012, Marco Rubio called for Attorney General Eric Holder to resign because of "the Justice Department’s handling of Operation 'Fast and Furious,'" according to the Washington Post. He said, "This was a major mistake made by the Justice Department and the folks who administered this program and I think one of the roles of Congress is to have oversight over decisions such as this. If you refuse to provide information to allow Congress to play that role, it really undermines the principles of our republic and the separation of powers and the role that Congress plays.”[13]
First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
- In August 2013, Rubio "filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court regarding Town of Greece v. Galloway," in support of the town’s right to open town board meetings with prayer.[14]
Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)
- On March 13, 2015, NPR's Steve Inskeep asked Marco Rubio about Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Rubio responded, "I don't believe you can discriminate against people. So I don't believe it's right for a florist to say, I'm not going to provide you flowers because you're gay. I think there's a difference between not providing services to a person because of their identity, who they are or who they love, and saying, I'm not going to participate in an event, a same-sex wedding, because that violates my religious beliefs. There's a distinction between those two things. So, certainly, you can't not — it's immoral and wrong to say, I'm not going to allow someone who's gay or lesbian to use my restaurant, stay in my hotel, or provide photography service to them because they're gay. The difference here is, we're not talking about discriminating against a person because of who they are, we're talking about someone who's saying — what I'm talking about, anyway, is someone who's saying, I just don't want to participate as a vendor for an event, a specific event that violates the tenets of my faith."[15]
Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
- On January 17, 2016, Rubio said he had bought a gun before Christmas to defend his family. “I’m a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. I have a right to protect my family if someone were to come after us, In fact, if ISIS were to visit us, or our communities, at any moment, the last line of defense between ISIS and my family is the ability that I have to protect my family from them, or from a criminal, or anyone else who seeks to do us harm. Millions of Americans feel that way,” Rubio said.[16]
- During the sixth Republican presidential primary debate, on January 14, 2016, Rubio discussed President Obama and the Second Amendment: “Look, the Second Amendment is not an option. It is not a suggestion. It is a constitutional right of every American to be able to protect themselves and their families. I am convinced that if this president could confiscate every gun in America, he would. I am convinced that this president, if he could get rid of the Second Amendment, he would. I am convinced because I see how he works with his attorney general, not to defend the Second Amendment, but to figure out ways to undermine it. I have seen him appoint people to our courts not to defend the Second Amendment, but to figure out ways to undermine it. Here's my second problem. None of these instances that the president points to as the reason why he's doing these things would have been preventive. You know why? Because criminals don't buy their guns from a gun show. They don't buy their guns from a collector. And they don't buy their guns from a gun store. They get -- they steal them. They get them on the black market. And let me tell you, ISIS and terrorists do not get their guns from a gun show.”[17]
- After President Obama discussed his executive actions to prevent gun violence, Rubio said January 5, 2016, that his plan is "part of a broader narrative. And that is that this president is obsessed with undermining the Constitution in general, but the Second Amendment in particular."[18]
- Rubio wrote an op-ed in The Sioux City Journal on December 18, 2015, to criticize Democratic calls for stricter gun control laws. “Since our nation’s founding, all 44 of our presidents have sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. Most have understood that this means the entire Constitution, not just the parts they like. But today, President Obama believes a key provision of our Constitution – the Second Amendment – does not apply to him. He believes the relevance of the right to bear arms has somehow changed since our founding, and that it is no longer his duty to uphold or defend it. This is not only a violation of his oath; it also represents a dangerous lack of judgment. If the relevance of the right to bear arms has changed in recent years, it has become more important rather than less,” Rubio wrote.[19]
- Rubio said on December 6, 2015, that Americans should not be barred from gun ownership if they appear on a no-fly list. “These are everyday Americans that have nothing to do with terrorism, they wind up on the no-fly list, there’s no due process or any way to get your name removed from it in a timely fashion, and now they’re having their Second Amendment rights being impeded upon. … Sometimes you’re only on that list because the FBI wants to talk to you about someone you know, not because you’re a suspect. And, again, now your Second Amendment right is being impeded with,” Rubio said.[20]
- Rubio, on December 4, 2015, criticized President Obama and the Democrats for pushing for gun control reform shortly after the San Bernardino, Calif. shooting, saying, “I don’t want to hear anything more about the president talking about gun control. We need bomb control. We need terrorist control.”[21]
- On October 6, 2015, Rubio said his first response to the perpetrator of a mass shooting at an Oregon community college was, “That his family shouldn’t have allowed him to do it. That he should have been reported to authorities. That there should have been more mental health services available for someone like that. What I know is this, many of the proposals that are out there now on gun control, would not have prevented that attack or some of the others we’ve seen in the past.”[22]
- In March 2013, Rubio and Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) sent a letter to then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) expressing their "opposition to any legislation with additional restrictions on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens."[23]
- Rubio voted against the 2013 Joe Manchin-Pat Toomey background checks proposal.[24]
Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
- Commenting on whether Apple should design a program to crack the encrypted iPhone of one of the San Bernardino, Calif., shooters, Marco Rubio said at a campaign stop on February 17, 2016, that “being a good corporate citizen is important.” In a televised town hall later that night he said, "If we passed a law that required Apple and these companies to create a backdoor, one, criminals could figure that out and use it against you. And number two, there's already encrypted software that already exists, not only now but in the future created in other countries. We would not be able to stop that, so there would still be encryption capabilities — they just wouldn't be American encryption capabilities."[25]
- At the fifth GOP primary debate on December 15, 2015, Rubio talked about his opposition to the USA Freedom Act: “Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries. This is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that took we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. ... There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before. This bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the National Security Agency and other law - and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. Because I promise you, the next time there is attack on - an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it? And the answer better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked.”[26]
- On December 2, 2015, Rubio co-sponsored the Liberty Through Strength Act II to make permanent certain provisions of the Patriot Act and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. “This bill will not fix the misguided and flawed USA Freedom Act that went into effect on December 1, nor will it reverse the dangerous, unilateral disarmament of portions of our intelligence collection apparatus undertaken by President Obama and his administration. However, passage of this bill will ensure that key tools used by the intelligence community and law enforcement to defend our cities and towns are permanently reauthorized and that the metadata already collected is not discarded until it no longer has any intelligence value,” said Rubio in a statement.[27]
USA FREEDOM Act of 2015
On June 2, 2015, the Senate passed HR 2048 - the Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ensuring Effective Discipline Over Monitoring Act of 2015 or the USA FREEDOM Act of 2015 by a vote of 67-32. The legislation revised HR 3199 - the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 by terminating the bulk collection of metadata under Sec. 215 of the act, requiring increased reporting from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and requiring the use of "a specific selection term as the basis for national security letters that request information from wire or electronic communication service providers, financial institutions, or consumer reporting agencies." Rubio voted with 29 Republicans, one Democrat and one independent against the legislation. It became law on June 2, 2015.[28][29]
Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
- In an op-ed in USA Today on January 6, 2016, Marco Rubio wrote that he would “promote a convention of states to amend the Constitution and restore limited government.” Rubio continued, “This method of amending our Constitution has become necessary today because of Washington’s refusal to place restrictions on itself. The amendment process must be approached with caution, which is why I believe the agenda should be limited to ideas that reduce the size and scope of the federal government, such as imposing term limits on Congress and the Supreme Court and forcing fiscal responsibility through a balanced budget requirement. Limiting the agenda will prevent the convention from being overtaken by special interests.”[30]
- In June 2010, Marco Rubio defended Arizona’s immigration law, S.B. 1070, saying, “Arizona has a 10th Amendment right to provide for the security of its residents.”[31]
Territories
- On September 4, 2015, Marco Rubio published an op-ed on Medium stating his opposition to allowing Puerto Rico to reorganize its debts under Chapter 9 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Rubio proposed improving the Puerto Rican economy by increasing tax credits for low-income workers and families with children.[32]
Crime and justice
- In 2008, Marco Rubio voted for a bill that "Requires life sentences for second or subsequent offenses of lewd or lascivious molestation against victim less than 12 years of age."[33]
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term Marco + Rubio + Government
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ The New York Times, "Marco Rubio Suspends His Presidential Campaign," March 15, 2016
- ↑ The Intercept, "Marco Rubio Pushes to Block Low-Cost, High-Speed Broadband," December 14, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "Filibuster divides GOP 2016 contenders," July 6, 2015
- ↑ NBC News, "Marco Rubio Says Antonin Scalia's Death 'Refocused' 2016 Race," February 15, 2016
- ↑ CBS News, "Face the Nation transcripts February 14, 2016: Donald Trump, Marco Rubio," February 14, 2016
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedWaPo - ↑ Facebook, "Marco Rubio," February 13, 2016
- ↑ The Huffington Post, "Marco Rubio Suggests His Supreme Court Would Roll Back Marriage Equality," December 13, 2015
- ↑ Orlando Weekly, "Court advocates protest Marco Rubio over federal judicial vacancies," August 25, 2015
- ↑ Whitehouse.gov, "President Obama Nominates Two to Serve on the United States District Courts," February 26, 2015
- ↑ MSNBC, "Rubio: ‘More Scalias and less Sotomayors’," July 20, 2015
- ↑ Marco Rubio, "Senator Marco Rubio Expresses Solidarity With March For Life," January 24, 2011
- ↑ Washington Post, "Marco Rubio: Eric Holder should resign," accessed February 18, 2015
- ↑ High Beam, "Rubio Defends Legislative Prayer from Assault by Liberal Activist Court," August 5, 2013
- ↑ NPR, "Transcript: NPR's Full Interview With Sen. Marco Rubio," accessed April 16, 2015
- ↑ CBS News, "Marco Rubio: My gun a "last line of defense" against ISISm" January 17, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Post, "6th Republican debate transcript, annotated: Who said what and what it meant," January 14, 2016
- ↑ USA Today, "Republican 2016 candidates bash Obama's gun plan," January 5, 2016
- ↑ The Sioux City Journal, "MARCO RUBIO: Second Amendment right to bear arms grows more important," December 18, 2015
- ↑ The Hill, "Rubio: No-fly list full of 'everyday Americans'," December 6, 2015
- ↑ Boston Herald, "Marco Rubio rips prez on firearm curbs, OK with no-fly listees buying guns," December 5, 2015
- ↑ Today, "Marco Rubio: Gun control 'would not have prevented' Oregon shooting," October 6, 2015
- ↑ Marco Rubio, "Rubio Stands Against Effort To Infringe On Second Amendment Rights," March 28, 2013
- ↑ New York Times, “Senate Vote 97 - Defeats Manchin-Toomey Background Checks Proposal,” accessed January 23, 2015
- ↑ Business Insider, "Marco Rubio has a surprisingly nuanced response to Apple's war with the FBI," February 17, 2016
- ↑ CNN, "Rush Transcript second debate: CNN Facebook Republican Presidential Debate," December 15, 2015
- ↑ Marco Rubio, U.S. Senator for Florida, "Rubio Backs Legislation To Protect Critical Anti-Terror Surveillance Programs," December 2, 2015
- ↑ Congress.gov, "H.R.2048," accessed May 26, 2015
- ↑ Senate.gov, "On Passage of the Bill (H.R. 2048)," accessed June 2, 2015
- ↑ USA Today, "Marco Rubio: Convention can restore limited government," January 6, 2016
- ↑ National Review, "The Two Parts of Health-Care Reform Marco Rubio Likes," June 24, 2010
- ↑ Medium, "Toward A Better Future in Puerto Rico," September 4, 2015
- ↑ MyFloridaHouse.gov, "HB 85 - Lewd or Lascivious Molestation," accessed February 18, 2015
