Florida Sen. Marco Rubio clarified on Sunday he is not calling for a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court's ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.
In his closing statement at Saturday's Republican debate, Rubio said that under his presidency, "We are going to be a country that says a marriage is between one man and one woman."
Asked about that on
"Fox News Sunday," Rubio said he was referring only to using the presidency as a bully pulpit on the issue.
"You'll have a president that says marriage is between one man and one woman," he said. The decision to define marriage "has always belonged to the states," Rubio added.
"It doesn't belong at the federal level. The Constitution already says that," he said, and 2015's Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage was wrong.
A president cannot overturn a Supreme Court decision, Rubio said, but he said he would support more justices like the recently deceased Justice Antonin Scalia, a strict constructionist and conservative icon on the court.
Obergefell v. Hodges should be overturned because it violates the Constitution, Rubio said.
"I believe it should be between a man and woman. I'll engage in that debate," he said, "But ultimately your elected representatives at the state level will decide it. It doesn't belong in federal courts."