Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 01:54 pm
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) ripped the hypocrisy behind Ted Cruz’s promise to filibuster any Obama Supreme Court nominee during an interview on ABC’s This Week.
Cruz promised that he would filibuster any Obama nominee to replace Justice Scalia on the Supreme Court.
Video:
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Transcript via ABC’s This Week:
STEPHANOPOULOS: — does that mean that you’re going to filibuster anyone — anyone that President Obama nominates?
CRUZ: Absolutely. This should be a decision for the people, George. We’ve got an election. And, you know, Democrats — I cannot wait to stand on that stage with Hillary Clinton or with Bernie Sanders and take the case to the people, what vision of the Supreme Court do you want?
Let the election decide it. If the Democrats want to replace this nominee, they need to win the election.
But you know what, I don’t think the American people want a court that will strip our religious liberties. I don’t think the American people want a court that will mandate unlimited abortion on demand, partial birth abortion with taxpayer funding and no parental notification. And I don’t think the American people want a court that will write the Second Amendment out of “The Constitution.”
Later during the same program, the number two Democrat in the Senate, and a member of the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) lit into Cruz, “You know, the Constitution, Ted Cruz holds the Constitution, you know, when he walks through the halls of Congress. Let him show me the clause that says president’s only president for three years. Does this mean we don’t hold hearings on anything? The president shouldn’t nominate Cabinet ministers? It certainly might mean the Republicans shouldn’t repeal Obamacare in the fourth year.”
Video of Sen. Schumer on ABC’s This Week:
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The Republican argument that the Constitution is invalidated because it is an election year is a contrived bit of nonsense that the right would never use if a Republican president was in his final year in office and faced with an unexpected Supreme Court vacancy.
Cruz’s filibuster threat is another attempt by the senator from Texas to use the United States Senate as a prop for his presidential campaign. Republicans are facing the prospect of being punished by the voters if they obstruct Obama’s nominee. What Cruz suggested was more self-serving political suicide from the man who brought the Party of Lincoln the government shutdown.
Schumer nailed it. Republicans love the Constitution until they are called upon to fulfill their constitutional duties. There is nothing in the Constitution that states that Supreme Court nominees can only be nominated and confirmed in non-presidential election years. The ploy to block Obama’s nominee is more empty pandering to the base that is likely to cost the Republican Party both the Senate and the White House in November.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
