South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said at a debate on Wednesday night that he would enforce a state ban on same-sex marriage if the U.S. Supreme Court were to overturn its own 2015 ruling legalizing the practice nationwide.
Participating in a debate, hosted by South Carolina Educational Television and the Charleston-based newspaper The Post and Courier, against former Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham, McMaster was asked by a moderator whether he would support a ban on same-sex marriage if the nation’s highest court were to reverse precedent, as it did in a recent ruling that overturned a longstanding 1973 decision guaranteeing a federal right to abortion. If the court were to overturn that decision, South Carolina’s existing ban on same-sex marriage, which was nullified by the high court, would immediately take effect.