WASHINGTON �� President-elect Donald Trump said the issue of marriage equality in the U.S. is settled law and he's "fine with that," yet pledged to support overturning the 1973 Supreme Court decision that a woman has a right to choose to have an abortion.
Speaking on CBS's "60 Minutes," Trump said it was "irrelevant" whether he personally supports same-sex marriage.
"It was already settled," Trump said, according to a transcript released by the network. "It's law. It was settled in the Supreme Court. I mean it's done."
Republican leaders in Congress have criticized the June 2015 ruling, and Trump's statement puts him at odds with members of the party he now leads. He's already broken with Republican orthodoxy on issues like trade and infrastructure spending.
Still, he stands firmly with party members when it comes to Second Amendment gun rights and abortion. Trump reiterated a campaign pledge to nominate Supreme Court justices that would overturn the Roe v. Wade decision, which said women have the right to privacy when it comes to ending a pregnancy. The court in subsequent rulings has allowed some restrictions, while continuing to uphold the basic tenets of that decision.
"I'm pro-life," Trump said. "The judges will be pro-life." He said the issue would be decided by individual states if the ruling were overturned.
Trump said he'll move quickly to nominate someone to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February. Republican leaders have refused to consider President Barack Obama's nominee, appeals court Judge Merrick Garland.
Filling Scalia's seat will restore the court's previous 5-4 Republican-appointed majority.
