Ted Cruz presidential campaign, 2016/Federalism
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 Ted Cruz |
U.S. Senator (Assumed office: 2013) |
 Republican candidate: |
2028 • 2024 • 2020 • 2016 |
This page was current as of the 2016 election.
Legislative
- In 2015, conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt began asking Republican candidates on his show if they would be willing to use the Senate "nuclear option" in order to get rid of the filibuster and repeal Obamacare. Ted Cruz is one of a few candidates who is in favor of keeping the filibuster.[2]
Judiciary
- On March 16, 2016, Ted Cruz released the following statement on the nomination of Chief Judge Merrick Garland to the United States Supreme Court: “Merrick Garland is exactly the type of Supreme Court nominee you get when you make deals in Washington D.C. A so-called ‘moderate’ Democrat nominee is precisely the kind of deal that Donald Trump has told us he would make – someone who would rule along with other liberals on the bench like Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor. Make no mistake, if Garland were confirmed, he would side predictably with President Obama on critical issues such as undermining the Second Amendment, legalizing partial-birth abortion, and propping up overreaching bureaucratic agencies like the EPA and the IRS. We cannot afford to lose the Supreme Court for generations to come by nominating or confirming someone that a dealmaker like Donald Trump would support. Washington dealmakers cannot be trusted with such crucial lifetime appointments. I proudly stand with my Republican colleagues in our shared belief – our advice and consent – that we should not vote on any nominee until the next president is sworn into office. The People will decide. I commend Mitch McConnell and Chuck Grassley for holding the line and ensuring that We the People get to exercise our authority to decide the direction of the Supreme Court and the Bill of Rights.”[3]
- In a statement on March 16, 2016, Ted Cruz said that he opposed the nomination of federal judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. “Make no mistake, if Garland were confirmed, he would side predictably with President Obama on critical issues such as undermining the Second Amendment, legalizing partial-birth abortion, and propping up overreaching bureaucratic agencies like the EPA and the IRS. We cannot afford to lose the Supreme Court for generations to come by nominating or confirming someone that a dealmaker like Donald Trump would support. Washington dealmakers cannot be trusted with such crucial lifetime appointments,” Cruz said.[4]
- On February 15, 2016, Ted Cruz said, "I intend to make 2016 a referendum on the Supreme Court. … I will have no more solemn responsibility than to name a replacement for Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court.” Cruz added that he believed Donald Trump, if elected president, would appoint liberal judges because he "has been liberal his entire adult life."[5]
- Cruz said in an interview on February 14, 2016, that the Senate does "not remotely" have an obligation to consider a nominee from President Barack Obama. He argued that "the Senate's duty is to advise and consent. You know what? The Senate is advising right now. We're advising that a lame-duck president in an election year is not going to be able to tip the balance of the Supreme Court." Cruz also commented on his presidential rivals' potential Supreme Court picks, saying, "If Donald Trump is the nominee, or if Hillary Clinton is the president, we will see unlimited abortion on demand throughout this country, partial-birth abortion, taxpayer funding, no parental notification. And we'll also see our religious liberty torn down, our basic rights."[6]
- During the Republican presidential debate on February 13, 2016, Cruz said Justice Antonin Scalia's death "underscore[d] the stakes of this election." He continued, "We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will strike down every restriction on abortion adopted by the states. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will reverse the Heller decision, one of Justice Scalia's seminal decisions that upheld the Second Amendment right to keep and to bear arms. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that would undermine the religious liberty of millions of Americans – and the stakes of this election, for this year, for the Senate, the Senate needs to stand strong and say, 'We're not going to give up the U.S. Supreme Court for a generation by allowing Barack Obama to make one more liberal appointee.'"[7]
- Cruz tweeted earlier on February 13, 2016, "Justice Scalia was an American hero. We owe it to him, & the Nation, for the Senate to ensure that the next President names his replacement."[8]
- During an interview February 9, 2016, Cruz discussed the future of the U.S. Supreme Court. He said, "We are one justice away from the Supreme Court ordering ten commandments monuments taken down at courthouses and city halls throughout this country. We are not far away from them ordering the chisels to come out to take off the crosses and the Stars of Davids on the tombstones of our fallen soldiers. … We are one justice away from the Supreme Court striking down every restriction on abortion and mandating unlimited abortion-on-demand up until the moment of birth, partial birth with taxpayer funding and no notification." According to The Hill, “He also said a liberal majority of justices would order ‘veterans’ memorials to be torn down over this country,’ give up America's national ‘sovereignty to the United Nations and the World Court,’ and nix the Second Amendment right to bear arms, as well as push a liberal agenda on abortion.”[9]
- Cruz sent a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch on November 2, 2015, that requested the Justice Department preserve documents related to the alleged targeting of conservative organizations by the IRS. “Given this Administration’s refusal to conduct itself appropriately, or take the issue of the potential illegal conduct of IRS employees seriously, any subsequent administration should reserve the right to reopen the matter, conduct its own investigation, or appoint a special prosecutor to conduct an investigation,” Cruz wrote.[10]
- At a campaign rally in Iowa on October 23, 2015, Cruz voiced concern with the future composition of the Supreme Court. He said, “One more liberal justice and our right to keep and bear arms is taken away from us by an activist court. One more liberal justice and they begin sandblasting and bulldozing veterans memorials throughout this country. One more liberal justice and we lose our sovereignty to the United Nations and the World Court.”[11]
- On September 19, 2015, Cruz said that “every” Democratic nominee to the Supreme Court had “put forward votes like a radical leftist nutcase.” He suggested Republican nominees were a mix of justices who “actually honor their oath to defend the Constitution” and “screaming trainwreck disasters.”[12]
- Cruz suggested on September 12, 2015, that Chief Justice John Roberts was not a conservative judge and Obamacare and same-sex marriage would not be law if he were not on the Court. Cruz argued Roberts was nominated because of his lack of time on the federal bench, making his nomination “easier” for former President George W. Bush. Cruz said, “Neither Souter nor Roberts had said much of anything. They didn’t have a paper trail, they wouldn’t have a fight. Whereas if you actually nominate a conservative, then you gotta spend some political capital. Then you gotta fight.”[13]
- During a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on July 22, 2015, Cruz called for term limits for Supreme Court justices, saying, “We did not establish philosopher kings in this country.”[14]
- In June 2015, Cruz called for Supreme Court judicial retention elections. He said, "I am proposing an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would subject each and every justice of the United States Supreme Court to periodic judicial retention elections."[15]
| "Ted Cruz Discusses the Constitution and the Supreme Court," September 17, 2012 |
- At the 2012 Values Voter Summit, Ted Cruz criticized President Barack Obama for "trampling on the Constitution" and warned that “we are one justice away from a radical five justice liberal majority.”[16]
Government accountability
- During his 2012 Senate campaign, Cruz wrote, "Congress should pass Rep. Ron Paul’s bill to audit the Federal Reserve — so that it is subject to basic principles of accountability and transparency. We then should restrain the Fed’s 'quantitative easing' — a fancy term for printing money — so that our currency isn’t further debased. ...For long-term growth, we need sound money and a strong dollar."[17]
First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
- Ted Cruz took to Facebook on September 2, 2015, to defend Kim Davis, a Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. “Our nation was founded by men and women fleeing religious oppression. They sought out a new world where they could worship God Almighty with all their heart, mind, and soul. Sadly, we’ve seen a war on faith break out across our nation, and we must be vigilant to protect the free exercise of religion – a value enshrined in our Constitution. We should make it possible for believers, such as Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis in Kentucky, to hold government jobs without having to violate their religious beliefs. We can work together to come up with alternative ways to ensure that government functions are accomplished without infringing on religious liberty,” Cruz wrote.[18]
- After Davis was jailed, Cruz called the order an act of “judicial tyranny” on September 3, 2015. Cruz said in a statement, “Today, judicial lawlessness crossed into judicial tyranny. Today, for the first time ever, the government arrested a Christian woman for living according to her faith. This is wrong. This is not America. I stand with Kim Davis. Unequivocally. I stand with every American that the Obama Administration is trying to force to choose between honoring his or her faith or complying with a lawless court opinion.”[19]
- Cruz sponsored S.2416 - the Free All Speech Act of 2014, which proposed requiring that "any law that restricts political speech of American citizens to apply with equal force to media corporations."[20]
- Cruz sponsored S.2415 - the SuperPAC Elimination Act of 2014, which proposed eliminating "the limitations on direct contributions to candidates in federal elections" and requiring "24-hour notification to the Secretary of the Senate, or the Federal Election Commission, and the Secretary of State, as appropriate, for all direct contributions to candidates in excess of $200."[21]
- As Texas’ Solicitor General, "Cruz wrote the brief that persuaded the court to approve a monument of the Ten Commandments outside the state capitol, in Austin," according to The New Yorker.[22]
Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)
- On March 30, 2015, Ted Cruz issued the following statement in support of Mike Pence and Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act: "I want to commend Governor Mike Pence for his support of religious freedom, especially in the face of fierce opposition. There was a time, not too long ago, when defending religious liberty enjoyed strong bipartisan support. Alas, today we are facing a concerted assault on the First Amendment, on the right of every American to seek out and worship God according to the dictates of his or her conscience. Governor Pence is holding the line to protect religious liberty in the Hoosier State. Indiana is giving voice to millions of courageous conservatives across this country who are deeply concerned about the ongoing attacks upon our personal liberties. I’m proud to stand with Mike, and I urge Americans to do the same."[23]
Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
- During the sixth Republican presidential primary debate, on January 14, 2016, Ted Cruz talked about preventing mass shootings and ending violent crime while protecting the Second Amendment: “You prosecute criminals. You target the bad guys. You know, a minute ago, [the moderator] asked: What has President Obama do -- done to illustrate that he wants to go after guns? Well, he appointed Eric Holder as attorney general. Eric Holder said he viewed his mission as brainwashing the American people against guns. He appointed Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, someone who has been a radical against the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. He launched Fast and Furious, illegally selling guns to Mexican drug lords that were then used to shoot law enforcement officials. And I'll tell you what Hillary Clinton has said: Hillary Clinton says she agrees with the dissenters -- the Supreme Court dissenters in the Heller case. There were four dissenters, and they said that they believe the Second Amendment protects no individual right to keep and bear arms whatsoever, which means, if their view prevailed and the next president's going to get one, two, three, maybe four Supreme Court justices, the court will rule that not a single person in this room has any right under the Second Amendment and the government could confiscate your guns.”[24]
- On December 7, 2015, Cruz challenged critics who said he was “insensitive” to hold events promoting the Second Amendment following the San Bernardino, Calif. shootings. Cruz said, “I don’t think it’s my job to be sensitive to radical Islamic terrorists. And you don’t stop the bad guys by taking away our guns. You stop the bad guys by using our guns, and a free and armed American citizenry is how we keep ourselves safe, and we need a president who can distinguish between law-abiding American citizens defending our families, and radical Islamic terrorism committing acts of jihad.”[25]
- In April 2013, Cruz voted against S.Amdt.711 to S.649, which proposed regulating "assault weapons."[26]
- In April 2013, Cruz voted against S.Amdt.714 to S.649, which proposed regulating "large capacity ammunition feeding devices."[27]
- In April 2013, Cruz voted against S.Amdt.715 to S.649, which proposed ensuring "that all individuals who should be prohibited from buying a firearm are listed in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System” and proposed creating “a responsible and consistent background check process."[28]
Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
- At the tenth Republican debate on February 25, 2016, Cruz commented on whether Apple should comply with a court order to help the FBI in its investigation of a 2015 shooting in San Bernardino, saying, “Apple should be forced to comply with this court order. Why? Because under the Fourth Amendment, a search and seizure is reasonable if it has judicial authorization and probable cause. In this instance, the order is not put a back door in everyone's cell phone. If that was the order, that order would be problematic because it would compromise security and safety for everyone. I would agree with Apple on that broad policy question. But on the question of unlocking this cell phone of a terrorist, we should enforce the court order and find out everyone that terrorist at San Bernardino talked to on the phone, texted with, e-mailed. And absolutely, Apple doesn't have a right to defy a valid court order in a terrorism investigation.”[29]
USA FREEDOM Act of 2015
- At the fifth GOP primary debate on December 15, 2015, Ted Cruz defended his support for the USA Freedom Act, which opponents, like Marco Rubio, have said barred surveillance tools that make America less safe. Cruz said, “Well...the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives in both the Senate and the House to reform how we target bad guys. And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens. But number two in the second half of it that is critical. It strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. It gave us greater tools and we are seeing those tools work right now in San Bernardino. And in particular, what it did is the prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls. When you had a terrorist, you could only search a relatively narrow slice of numbers, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys. You know what the Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys. We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror.”[30]
- In a speech at the Heritage Foundation on December 10, 2015, Cruz opposed “resurrecting the government’s bulk data collection that existed under the PATRIOT Act.” He said, “More data from millions of law-abiding Americans is not always better data. Hoarding tens of billions of records of ordinary citizens, it didn’t stop Fort Hood, it didn’t stop Boston, it didn’t stop Chattanooga, it didn’t stop Garland, and it failed to detect the San Bernardino plot.”[31]
- On December 7, 2015, Cruz defended his vote for the USA Freedom Act. He said, “I’m very proud of leading the way along with other strong conservatives in passing the USA Freedom Act. What it did was two things: Number one, it ended the federal government’s bulk collection of metadata. We are not made safer by having the Obama administration have access to all of our phones and all of our emails. We are not made safer by having Lois Lerner have the information of law abiding citizens. That is not making us safer. The USA Freedom Act ended the bulk collection of phone and metadata of law abiding citizens but then secondly what it did is it strengthened the ability to target the terrorists. It strengthened the ability, when there is evidence that an individual is associated with terrorism, it strengthened the ability to be able to get their phone records, their emails, their location, get everything about them. Under the old system, there was a relatively limited universe of phone records that could be searched. The USA Freedom Act markedly expanded the universe of phone records that could be searched. That’s what the intelligence agencies told Congress—the USA Freedom Act strengthens their ability to target terrorists. They’re now able to search many more records instead of just doing it in a blanket way where they had every law abiding citizen’s phone records, instead [under this bill] they do it with judicial authorization targeted at the bad guys.”[32]
On June 2, 2015, the Senate passed HR 2048 - the Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ensuring Effective Discipline Over Monitoring Act of 2015 or the USA FREEDOM Act of 2015 by a vote of 67-32. The legislation revised HR 3199 - the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 by terminating the bulk collection of metadata under Sec. 215 of the act, requiring increased reporting from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and requiring the use of "a specific selection term as the basis for national security letters that request information from wire or electronic communication service providers, financial institutions, or consumer reporting agencies." Cruz voted with 22 Republicans, 43 Democrats and one Independent to approve the legislation. It became law on June 2, 2015.[33][34]
- Cruz co-sponsored S.2685 - the USA FREEDOM Act of 2014. Cruz explained, "Republicans and Democrats are showing America that the government can respect the privacy rights of law-abiding citizens, while at the same time, giving law enforcement the tools needed to target terrorists. The USA FREEDOM Act of 2014 ends the government’s bulk record collection program and implements other necessary surveillance reforms. Importantly, it also sends a strong signal that a bipartisan coalition in Congress is working to safeguard our privacy rights."[35]
Executive powers
- In a 2014 op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, Cruz criticized President Barack Obama for violating the Constitution by bypassing Congress. He wrote, "Of all the troubling aspects of the Obama presidency, none is more dangerous than the president's persistent pattern of lawlessness, his willingness to disregard the written law and instead enforce his own policies via executive fiat."[36]
Crime and Justice
- Speaking at a church in New Hampshire on February, Cruz shared the story of his half sister Miriam’s drug and alcohol addiction that led to her death. He said, “Her son found her in her bed. The coroner ruled it accidental. We’ll never know. We just got the call one day that Miriam was gone.” New Hampshire is at the center of a wave of heroin addiction and several candidates have addressed the crisis on the trail. But, after delivering his remarks, Cruz participated in a round-table discussion with the local police chief and addiction experts, where he said that, while he supported a Senate program to direct some funds to antidrug efforts, “it’s not going to be the government that solves this.” Cruz emphasized the importance of groups on the ground, including churches and charities.[37]
- While campaigning in Iowa on January 4, 2016, Cruz said that he hoped the armed occupation of a federal building in Oregon would end “peaceably.” Cruz said, “Every one of us has a constitutional right to protest, to speak our minds, but we don’t have a constitutional right to use force of violence or threaten force of violence on others.”[38]
- In 2014, Cruz co-sponsored S.1410 - the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2014, which proposed eliminating mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders.[39]
- On January 30, 2014, Cruz praised Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to seek the death penalty against terrorist Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. He explained, "It is crucial that the United States send a message across the world that terrorists who seek to attack our homeland and bring harm to our citizens will be brought to justice and receive the severest punishment under our laws. My continued prayers are with the victims impacted by the attack at the Boston Marathon last year."[40]
Black Lives Matter movement
- Ted Cruz called the rhetoric of the Black Lives Matter movement “disgraceful” during a campaign speech on October 14, 2015. He said, “If you look at the Black Lives Matter movement, one of the most disturbing things is more than one of their protests have embraced rabid rhetoric, rabid anti-police language, literally suggesting and embracing and celebrating the murder of police officers. That is disgraceful.”[41]
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term Ted + Cruz + Government
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ Politico, "Ted Cruz drops out of presidential race," May 3, 2016
- ↑ Politico, "Filibuster divides GOP 2016 contenders," July 6, 2015
- ↑ Ted Cruz.org, "Cruz: We Should Not Vote on a Supreme Court Nominee Until the Next President is in Office," accessed March 16, 2016
- ↑ Ted Cruz for President, "We should not vote on a Supreme Court nominee until the next president is in office," March 16, 2016
- ↑ The Wall Street Journal, "Ted Cruz: 2016 Is a ‘Referendum’ on the Supreme Court," February 15, 2016
- ↑ NBC News, "Meet the Press - February 14, 2016," February 14, 2016
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedWaPo - ↑ Twitter, "Ted Cruz," February 13, 2016
- ↑ The Hill, "Cruz: Liberal Supreme Court would tear down veterans' memorials," February 10, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Times, "Ted Cruz: Next president will get do-over on IRS-tea party investigation," November 2, 2015
- ↑ The Des Moines Register, "Cruz: We're 'one liberal justice' from irreparable damage," October 23, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "Ted Cruz: Democratic Supreme Court justices rule ‘like a radical leftist nutcase,'" September 18, 2015
- ↑ BuzzFeed, "Ted Cruz, Who Repeatedly Vouched For John Roberts, Slams Him At Length," September 12, 2015
- ↑ The Huffington Post, "Ted Cruz Calls Gay Marriage Ruling The 'Very Definition Of Tyranny'," July 22, 2015
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Ted Cruz calls for judicial retention elections for Supreme Court justices," June 27, 2015
- ↑ Youtube, "Ted Cruz Discusses the Constitution and the Supreme Court," September 17, 2012
- ↑ National Review, "A Growth and Jobs Agenda," accessed March 5, 2015
- ↑ Facebook, "Ted Cruz," September 2, 2015
- ↑ Ted Cruz for President, "Cruz: I call upon every believer, every constitutionalist, every lover of liberty to stand with Kim Davis," September 3, 2015
- ↑ Gov Track, "S.2416 - Free Speech Act of 2104," accessed July 14, 2016
- ↑ Congress.gov, "S.2415 - SuperPAC Elimination Act of 2014," accessed December 10, 2014
- ↑ New Yorker, "The Absolutist," June 30, 2014
- ↑ TedCruz.org, "Cruz: I’m proud to stand with Gov. Mike Pence, and I urge Americans to do the same," accessed April 16, 2015
- ↑ The Washington Post, "6th Republican debate transcript, annotated: Who said what and what it meant," January 14, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Times, "Ted Cruz: ‘You don’t stop bad guys by taking away our guns’," December 7, 2015
- ↑ Congress.gov, "S.Amdt.711 to S.649," accessed March 8, 2015
- ↑ Congress.gov, "S.Amdt.714 to S.649," accessed March 8, 2015
- ↑ Congress.gov, "S.Amdt.715 to S.649," accessed March 8, 2015
- ↑ The Washington Post, "The CNN-Telemundo Republican debate transcript, annotated," February 25, 2016
- ↑ CNN, "Rush Transcript second debate: CNN Facebook Republican Presidential Debate," December 15, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "Cruz presses Rubio critique," December 10, 2015
- ↑ Breitbart, "Ted Cruz Crushes Marco Rubio in South Carolina Over National Security, Bulk Metadata Collection," December 7, 2015
- ↑ Congress.gov, "H.R.2048," accessed May 26, 2015
- ↑ Senate.gov, "On Passage of the Bill (H.R. 2048)," accessed June 2, 2015
- ↑ Senate.gov, "Sen. Cruz Co-Sponsors Bill to Ban Bulk Record Collection," July 29, 2014
- ↑ Wall Street Journal, "Ted Cruz: The Imperial Presidency of Barack Obama," January 28, 2014
- ↑ The New York Times, "An Emotional Ted Cruz Talks of the Overdose Death of His Half Sister," February 4, 2016
- ↑ The Huffington Post, "Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio Urge Oregon Militants to Stand Down," January 4, 2016
- ↑ Congress.gov, "S.1410 - Smarter Sentencing Act of 2014," accessed December 10, 2014
- ↑ Senate.gov, "Cruz on Decision to Seek Death Penalty in Case Against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev," January 30, 2014
- ↑ Sun Times, "Cruz: Black Lives Matter protests 'have embraced rabid rhetoric'," October 14, 2015
