Stephen Colbert wasted no time on Wednesday night as he opened his show by taking on the Supreme Court’s DOMA ruling on “The Colbert Report.”
After showing the audience at the top of the episode a montage of breaking news clips by various outlets, he said to a cheering crowd “The Defense of Marriage Act is dead.”
But the audience’s deafening applause only egged him on.
“Like my audience, I clap when I am afraid,” he said. “Traditional marriage is now as defenseless as a freshman frat pledge about to go through the spanking machine.”
Colbert went on to compare Wednesday’s ruling to the Supreme Court’s Voting Rights Act decision just a day before when the justices struck down 5-to-4 a key provision in the law passed to curb racial discrimination at the polls.
“In DOMA and the Voting Rights Act cases, it was about states’ rights, not the people in those states,” Colbert said. “That’s why the first words in the Constitution are ‘We the States.’ I think. It’s really hard to read those gay letters."
U.S. & World
Guest Emily Bazelon of Slate.com was on deck to help Colbert clarify the gay marriage and voting rights ruling. Meanwhile, Bill Moyers of "Moyers & Company" was also on the show and recalled being in the room when the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965.
Clips courtesy of Comedy Central
