Previews what to expect from Senate Democrats at next week’s hearing
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has spent the last several weeks making the case to the American people as to why the Senate must take up and confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett before Election Day. Sen. Cruz has appeared on several news outlets, including the Sean Hannity Show, The Hugh Hewitt Show, Washington Post Live, Breitbart News Daily, The Erick Erickson Show and the Daily Briefing with Dana Perino. Excerpts of the interviews are below. Watch Sen. Cruz’s latest interviews here.
ON THE NEED TO CONFIRM JUDGE AMY CONEY BARRETT TO THE SUPREME COURT:
“I think it’s critical that [the confirmation hearing] go forward and it’s going to. It’s no surprise Chuck Schumer is opposing it. He was opposing it before [anyone was even formally nominated] and he would oppose any Republican nominee. But we have an obligation to fill this vacancy. This is why President Trump was elected to nominate principled constitutionalists to the Court and it’s why the American people elected a Republican majority in the Senate is to confirm those principled constitutionalists. I’m confident that Judge Barrett will be confirmed and confirmed by the end of the month before Election Day so that we ensure we have a full nine justice Supreme Court available to resolve in any election disputes that could come of this.” (Sen. Cruz, Daily Briefing, 10/5/2020)
“President Trump in nominating Judge Barrett is doing exactly what he promised the American people. The Senate – we’re going to confirm Judge Barrett before Election Day, by the end of the month. And in doing so, we’re doing what we promised the American people.” (Sen. Cruz, Breitbart News Daily, 10/7/2020)
“I think the Senate has an obligation to make sure we have a full Court, a nine justice Court that can resolve [any election] matter. […] This is not to have a justice who’s going to rule for one candidate or another. That’s not the Supreme Court’s job. It is to have a Court that can provide finality and ensure that the law is followed.” (Sen. Cruz, Hugh Hewitt Show, 9/30/2020)
ON WHAT TO EXPECT AT NEXT WEEK’S CONFIRMATION HEARING:
“I think [Judge Barrett] will be substantive and scholarly. You think about it, this woman was a law professor and federal judge in Indiana. She could go walk in the park and nobody knew who she was. And in the last month, the entire world has descended upon her. She’s in the middle of this maelstrom of political and press attacks. That’s a pretty intense transformation. […] We may see Senate Democrats have had a ‘Spartacus moment’ where they attack her and malign her. But I expect her to be unfazed and calm throughout. And I think based on the substance, I think she’ll get confirmed.” (Sen. Cruz, Washington Post, 10/6/2020)
“Look, it ain’t complicated that the Democrats don’t want to see this Supreme Court seat filled. And it’s political. It’s partisan. That’s not lost on anybody. Whatever happens, their default response is going to be you can’t nominate this justice. We can’t confirm this justice. The world is ending and we’re opposed. The Senate has had, I think, 150 virtual and hybrid hearings since COVID started. And we’ll continue to do the same thing. The hearings are going to start on Monday. The Democrats are welcome to attend in person or if they prefer to attend, virtually, they can do that too. Whatever they like is just fine by us.” (Sen. Cruz, The Erick Erickson Show, 10/7/2020)
“I sat down with Judge Barrett and had a very good meeting. Spent about 45 minutes at the Capitol with her. And I will say she’s very, very impressive. We all know about her impeccable credentials. […] But I’ll tell you personally, what I found most impressive was her temperament. Her temperament was calm. It was cool. It was collected. It’s very, very scholarly and academic. It’s very much a judicial temperament. And, you know, you think about her life, a month ago, she was living a fairly quiet life as a law professor and judge in Indiana. She has seven kids and she’s a mom. Now she’s in the maelstrom of Democrats and the attack machine trying to destroy her, trying to destroy her family, slurring her, dragging her through the mud. I was very impressed by the calm and strength that she had. I think she’s going to perform exceptionally well in the confirmation hearings.” (Sen. Cruz, The Sean Hannity Show, 10/1/2020)
READ: Sen. Cruz: President Trump Made a Terrific Selection in Nominating Judge Barrett
ON DEMOCRATS’ RADICAL PLOT TO PACK THE COURT:
“If we start January of next year with a Biden, Schumer, Pelosi national government, I think the damage they will do in two years would exceed what Obama did in eight. I think they would end the filibuster. I think they would add two new states to elect four new Democratic senators. And I think they’d pack the Supreme Court, which would do permanent damage to our constitutional liberties, our free speech, our religious liberty, our Second Amendment. Every one of those is on the ballot.” (Sen. Cruz, Daily Briefing, 10/5/2020)
“I fully believe that they will move to pack the Court, and I think they will likely have the votes to do it. That politicizes the Court. It destroys the independence. We’ve seen a Democratic president try to pack the Court previously. FDR did and his own party resisted him. His own party said no, we don’t want the Court to be a political body. Today’s Democrats, I don’t believe, would resist one iota. And I think it’s where they’re headed if they get power.” (Sen. Cruz, Hugh Hewitt Show, 9/30/2020)
VIDEO: EXPOSED: Democrats’ Radical Power Plot
Sen. Cruz also recently joined The Michael Berry Show, Squawk Box, Live & Local with Kevin Wall, The Wayne Allyn Root Show, The Story with Martha MacCallum, The Brian Kilmeade Show, The Megyn Kelly Show, Full Court Press with Greta Van Susteren, Hannity, The Dennis Prager Show, GrayTV, Lou Dobbs Tonight, The Kuhner Report, The Todd Starnes Show, The Tony Katz Show, Fox & Friends, Making Money with Charles Payne, and the Joe Pags Show. Catch more of Sen. Cruz’s recent interviews here.
Several news outlets have covered Sen. Cruz’s leadership in the fight leading up to the confirmation battle next week. Excerpts are below:
Daily Caller: Sen. Cruz Says Biden, Harris Ready To Pack The Court
“Since the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the future of the Supreme Court has been a highly debated issue. During both the presidential and vice presidential debates, Biden and Harris were asked if the Biden administration would pack the court if the campaign wins in November. Neither Biden nor Harris answered. ‘I think the reason they won’t answer it is because their answer is yes,’ Cruz said, ‘and they know that’s incredibly impossible so they’re trying to hide just how radical their agenda is.’ ‘They are ready to pack the court. If they win, if they take a majority, if we have Biden, Schumer and Pelosi in charge, I believe they will pack the court,’ he added.”
The Hill: Cruz on confirming Trump’s Supreme Court nominee: ‘We have the votes’
“Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) predicted on Tuesday that Republicans will have the votes to confirm President Trump’s Supreme Court pick, even as a coronavirus outbreak in GOP circles has cast new doubt on the party’s ambitious timeline. ‘I’m very confident. I believe we have the votes. I believe we’ll get it done,’ Cruz said during a Washington Post Live interview. ‘As I see it, we have a solid 51 votes right now. And from the conversations in the conference, I don’t see that changing.’”
Washington Examiner: Ted Cruz says he would support constitutional amendment to secure nine justices on Supreme Court
“Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said it would be a good idea to pass a constitutional amendment that would secure nine justices on the Supreme Court. […] ‘I think that’s a good idea. The number of justices is not set in the Constitution. It’s set by Congress,’ Cruz said, noting that the number of justices has varied over time. ‘We’ve had the number nine for 150 years. It is a number that works well, that provides stability and helps insulate the court from being overly politicized.’ Senate Republicans are pushing forward to confirm President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, whom Cruz met with at the Capitol on Tuesday. […] Cruz told the Washington Examiner that he is confident the Senate will vote to confirm Barrett before the general election on Nov. 3. He also encouraged his Democratic colleagues to meet with Barrett, saying her demeanor and temperament were impressive in person.”
NPR: Sen. Ted Cruz Says Judge Amy Coney Barrett ‘Will Make A Strong Justice’
“‘I think she’s a strong nominee,’ said Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who sits on the committee. Barrett, a judge on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, has conservative views on abortion rights, the Affordable Care Act, guns and campus sexual assault issues. She clerked for the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, calling his ‘judicial philosophy … mine, too.’ Cruz told NPR’s Steve Inskeep on Morning Edition that Barrett ‘has an impeccable background.’ She has only been on the appeals court since 2017 after President Trump nominated her. ‘I think she handled herself quite well’ at confirmation hearings in 2017, Cruz said. ‘So I think she has strong attributes. My preference is always someone with a longer proven record. But I think she will make a strong justice.’”
“Joe Biden does not possess the strength to stand up to the ‘rage and fury’ of the far left, as evidenced by his refusal to say whether he supports expanding the Supreme Court if elected, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas told ‘The Story’ Thursday. […] ‘If the Democrats win the presidency and they win the Senate, within a couple of weeks, [Senate Democratic Leader] Chuck Schumer will act to end the filibuster and I’ll tell you, I served with these Democrats. They have the votes. They will abolish the filibuster, which means the minority would not be able to stop any of their radical objectives.’ Cruz added that he believed Democrats would seek to raise the number of Supreme Court justices to 11 or 13 from the current nine. ‘Joe Biden just doesn’t want to be honest with the American people, but that’s absolutely part of the radical agenda of the far-left Democrats,’ he said.”
RedState: Ted Cruz Makes It Clear: Amy Coney Barret Will be Confirmed
“Texas Senator Ted Cruz has no doubts in his mind that when next Tuesday rolls around, Amy Coney Barret is all but guaranteed to have ‘Justice’ attached to her name. According to The Hill, Cruz says the GOP has the votes and the feeling of commitment across the board. To make sure the vote gets passed, they’re pulling out all the stops: ‘I’m very confident. I believe we have the votes. I believe we’ll get it done,’ Cruz said during a Washington Post Live interview. ‘As I see it, we have a solid 51 votes right now. And from the conversations in the conference, I don’t see that changing.’”
“Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview on Wednesday that former Vice President Joe Biden would pack the Supreme Court, end the Senate filibuster, and make Puerto Rico and Washington, DC, states to “entrench” Democrat power. […] Cruz charged that even though Biden avoided the question of packing the court and ending the filibuster, he expects that a Biden administration would support these radical moves to entrench Democrats’ power in Washington, DC. Cruz told Breitbart News, ‘[…] And, when it comes to the Supreme Court, I really think Senate Democrats are more than ready to pack the Court and increase the number to 11 or 13. They are furious, they are filled with rage that President Trump has gotten three Supreme Court nominations and they think this is their territory that they own. And we have seen a previous Democrat president pack the Supreme Court, FDR tried to do it at the height of his power and his own party, the Democrat Party rejected his efforts that was going too far.’”
“The Texas senator said Blumenthal’s promise to boycott Barrett is not a bad thing. In fact, Cruz said it would be beneficial if every Democratic senator took the same position as Blumenthal. That way, Barrett would be confirmed to the Supreme Court even quicker. ‘Excellent idea! And if you & all your Dem colleagues boycott the hearing altogether, we’ll avoid the political circus & the desperate attempts to smear Judge Barrett and her family,’ Cruz said. ‘And we’ll confirm her faster!’”
Texas Tribune: President Donald Trump nominates Amy Coney Barrett to U.S. Supreme Court
“In a statement, Cruz noted that Barrett was confirmed to the 7th Circuit in 2017 with bipartisan support. But he said Senate Democrats at the time tried to destroy her reputation based on her Catholic faith and predicted they would do so again, calling it a ‘shameful exercise of religious bigotry.’ ‘Let me be clear: Democrats’ expected attempts to derail this process, along with their contempt for Judge Barrett and her faith, will not impede this nomination,’ Cruz said. Cruz previously urged Trump to announce a nominee as soon as possible. Appearing on Fox News on the night of Ginsburg’s death, Cruz told Sean Hannity that once Trump named a successor, he and his fellow Republican senators should confirm the nominee before Election Day.”
The Federalist: Ted Cruz Explains Why He’s Sick Of Liberal Justices And How Trump Can Fix SCOTUS
“On the nomination of Barrett, Cruz said that while he believes Democrats will continue to attack her based on her faith, he is optimistic she will be confirmed before the election. ‘Barring something truly extraordinary which I don’t see on the horizon right now, I think we’re going to have the votes to get it done,’ Cruz said. ‘And from everything I’m hearing in the conference, I think those votes are solid and strong and people are impressed.’”
Newsmax: Sen. Cruz: SCOTUS Seat Needs to Be Filled Ahead of Potential Election-Related Lawsuits
“The Supreme Court seat left vacant following the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg earlier this month needs to be filled ahead of the 2020 presidential election to avoid a deadlock should election-related lawsuits come, says Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. […] ‘It’s one of the reasons why it is so important that the Senate confirm Judge (Amy Coney) Barrett, because if the Supreme Court only has eight justices, eight justices can divide four to four,’ Cruz noted. ‘An equally divided court has no authority to decide anything. So if we have this chaos of litigation, if the Supreme Court is equally divided, there is no resolution and we’re in a constitutional crisis.’”