WATCH: Ted Olson Schools Tony Perkins on Constitution, Marriage Equality

We have a Constitution override the will of the people when it discriminates, lawyer Olson tells the antigay activist.

Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.

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Trudy Ring

January 19 2015 3:47 PM EST

November 17 2015 5:28 AM EST

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Ted Olson, the lawyer who helped bring down California's anti-marriage equality Proposition 8, debated equal marriage rights with antigay activist Tony Perkins on this weekend's edition of Fox News Sunday.

Looking ahead to the U.S. Supreme Court taking up the issue -- the justices announced Friday that they would do so -- Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, told host Shannon Bream he hoped the court would "side with the American people on this," noting the many states where voters have passed measures limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples, what Perkins called "the natural definition of marriage."

Olson responded, "Ultimately, the reason we have a Constitution, the reason we have separation of powers, the reason we have the Fourteenth Amendment is to provide the courts with the opportunity to override the will of the people when the will of the people discriminates against a segment of our society." He pointed out Supreme Court decisions striking down Colorado's antigay Amendment 2, sodomy laws, and laws against interracial marriage, and he also noted that popular support for marriage equality has grown greatly in the past few years.

Watch the full segment below.