Ted Cruz

2022 - 3 - 23

Post cover — Image courtesy of "New York Magazine"

Ted Cruz Outdid Himself in the Jerkiness Department (New York Magazine)

In an unbelievable explosion of incivility, Ted Cruz screamed at Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson for not answering his tendentious questions to ...

The whole ridiculous display had no real point, since Cruz and other Republicans had long since established that Jackson had not “thrown the book” at child-porn consumers (as Tom Cotton put it) as they apparently think is necessary. And the whole spectacle was simply a play for the MAGA galleries, as the next Republican to speak, Ben Sasse, appeared to suggest: Not all of the GOP committee members are behaving badly, but after Lindsey Graham pitched his second major conniption fit early on March 23, Ted Cruz stole the show with the most disgraceful display of thuggish senatorial behavior I’ve personally seen in my many years of watching the upper chamber.

During Supreme Court Hearings, Ted Cruz Invokes Dr. King, and ... (The New York Times)

In the confirmation hearings of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the senator cited the famous “I Have a Dream” speech to suggest King would have opposed ...

“Our society has been doing something special against the Negro for hundreds of years,” Dr. King wrote. And among scholars, there is far greater attention to the radicalism of Dr. King, who is not seen as antithetical to figures like Malcolm X. They emphasize his opposition to the Vietnam War and his support for the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign and what some see as his backing for reparations. The conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza, in a 2021 video, invoked Dr. King’s speech as a vindication of Thomas Jefferson and the words of the Declaration of Independence, while casting Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and the Black historian John Hope Franklin as allied with the opponents of true equality. The context may have changed after the passages of the civil rights and voting rights acts, and the emergence of the Black Power moment. There was also a broader effort to claim Dr. King and his morality-based politics for the right. “Modern liberalism rejects these ideas, while conservatives place them at the center of their philosophy.” The theory says that racism is a systemic problem, not only a matter of individual bigotry. “And quoting King, instead of a white person, gains that sheen of moral cover.” “Contrary to countless assertions from the right, King did not endorse colorblindness,” she wrote. President Reagan ultimately came out in favor of the holiday, which he signed into law that year. But it is not, its proponents argue, a rejection of Dr. King’s ideas. It was a salvo aimed squarely at today’s pitched battles over critical race theory, a once obscure academic discipline that has emerged as a potent political weapon for the right.

Cruz attacks Jackson for 'critical race theory' — but sends his own ... (The Washington Post)

The Texas senator chose for his kids a school with strong antiracist education.

But Jackson’s status as a member of the board of GDS got the full Cruz treatment, with posters and books for props on the dais. As the headmaster and chair of the board of trustees at St. John’s put it in 2020: “Black lives matter. But Cruz has a particular skill for saying one thing and doing another. Georgetown Day School, in the nation’s capital, does indeed take a strong “ anti-racism” approach. “On Page 33, it asks the question, ‘Can we send White people back to Europe?’ … Are you comfortable with these ideas being taught to children as young as 4?” … St. John’s, as an institution, must be anti-racist and eliminate racism of any type — including institutional racism.

Sen. Cruz on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson: 'I See a Record of ... (Senator Ted Cruz)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – During the initial round of questioning in the confirmation hearing for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), ...

In the United States v. In United States v. In United States v. In United States v. In the United States v. In United States v. In every other case, United States v. They're very sophisticated technologically, but they aren't necessarily that interested in the child pornography piece of it.’ Now, I find that a pretty remarkable argument that people in possession of child pornography, are not actually interested in the child porn, they're not pedophiles, they're just interested in technology. And I guess my thought is in looking at some of the testimony that other people will have later in the day, I was surprised at some of the testimony with respect to the motivation of offenders’— and we're talking about child pornography offenders—‘and that there are people who get involved with this kind of activity, who may not be pedophiles, and who may not be necessarily interested really in the child pornography but have other motivations with respect to the use of technology, and being in the group. And I am just wondering if there's some sort of inevitable and natural progression from one stage to the other such that you could say that the least serious offenders are in the singular experience stage? It also on page 115 says ‘The idea that we should pretend not to see racism is connected to the idea that we should pretend not to see color. Do you agree with this book that is being taught with kids that the babies are racist?

Alan Dershowitz slams Ted Cruz's quizzing of Ketanji Brown Jackson (Business Insider)

Dershowitz had previously praised Cruz — whom he taught at Harvard — saying he'd made "brilliant arguments."

Dershowitz's criticism of Cruz is perhaps surprising, given his previous praise for the senator. Could I decide I was an Asian man — would I have the ability to be an Asian man and challenge Harvard's discrimination because I made that decision?" He added, "People have the right to choose how to live their lives." Cruz pressed Jackson on hot-button issues like critical race theory during the confirmation hearing. "There's certain things you can change, certain things you can't," Dershowitz said. On Wednesday, the lawyer Alan Dershowitz slammed Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, his former student, describing the lawmaker's questioning of the Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson as "absurd."

Ted Cruz accidentally boosts sales of book criticizing US police ... (Chron)

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) questions U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on critical race theory during her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation ...

Vitale's book draws on firsthand research from around the world about how the implementation of alternatives to policing — such as drug legalization, regulation and harm reduction — has led to reductions in crime, spending and injustice. However, Vitale says that was enough to shoot his book to the top of Amazon's Government Social Policy section. Alex Vitale, author of "The End of Policing," claims that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) helped make his book a national bestseller this week.

On racial politics, Ted Cruz didn't do his party any favors (MSNBC)

The Republican Party's outreach to Black voters took another big step backwards with the party's offensive against Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Jackson is obviously highly qualified for the high court and none of the other lines of attack from GOP senators have withstood scrutiny. GOP senators and their partisan allies could’ve recognized these circumstances and stuck to the high ground, if for no other reason than to advance their own partisan interests. Here, the subterfuge is stripped away: Republicans are being warned that a Black nominee for the Supreme Court is hoping to inculcate this anti-White agenda. After all of the entreaties from top Republicans to show respect at Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearings, Senator Ted Cruz on Tuesday afternoon chose to grill the first Black woman nominated for the Supreme Court on her views on critical race theory and insinuate that she was soft on child sexual abuse. A Washington Post analysis added, “‘Critical race theory’ (CRT) was elevated — and expanded — as a way of talking about conservative concerns about the perception that Whites held a diminished position in American society without being explicit about that perception. The GOP is, after all, the party of Donald Trump and birthers.