I will always vote to defend Americans’ constitutional rights set forth by our Founding Fathers.
Always vote to defend Americans' constitutional rights.
Occurrences
Evidence
Cassidy (R-LA) voted Nay on passage of H.R. 8404, a bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and ensure respect for state regulation of marriage, and for other purposes. The Senate roll call shows Cassidy among the 36 Nays.
Cassidy (R-LA) voted Nay on cloture for an amendment whose stated purpose was 'To authorize the Attorney General to deny requests to transfer a firearm to known or suspected terrorists.' The vote record lists Cassidy in the Nay column.
Cassidy said, 'If we begin taking away constitutional rights from law-abiding citizens, terrorism wins.' The statement says he voted in support of Senator Johnson's bill and 'conservative Senators Cornyn and Grassley’s amendments, which respected the second amendment and due process.'
Assessments
The promise is absolute and broad: to always vote to defend Americans' constitutional rights. Cassidy did take same-term positions he framed as defending constitutional rights, especially on Second Amendment and due-process issues in 2016. However, the record also includes votes that rights advocates could reasonably characterize as contrary to constitutional-rights protection, including his 2022 Nay vote on H.R. 8404, the Respect for Marriage Act. Because the claim is too sweeping to verify as fully delivered across all constitutional-rights contexts, but there is evidence of meaningful same-term rights-defense voting and advocacy, partial credit is more appropriate than delivered or never.