Sen. [crscore]Ted Cruz[/crscore] slammed Barack Obama’s criticism of the Senate refusing to fill the vacancy left by late Justice Antonin Scalia as “complete nonsense.”
Appearing on the “Hugh Hewitt Show” on Tuesday, Cruz said, “Under the constitution the Senate has the power to advise and consent. Well, we are advising right now that a lame duck president is not going to get a Supreme Court confirmation in the final year of his presidency.” (RELATED: [crscore]Mitch McConnell[/crscore] Rules Out Scalia Replacement Under Obama)
Responding to Obama’s claim that “I would challenge anyone who purports to be adhering to the original intent of the Founders, anybody who believes in the Constitution, [to come] up with a plausible rationale as to why they would not even have a hearing for a nominee made in accordance with the Constitution by President United States with a year old left practically in an office. It’s pretty hard to find that the Constitution.”
Hewitt asked Cruz to respond to Obama’s assertion and Cruz insisted, “Well, look, like so many things President Obama says it, is complete nonsense. It is untethered of the Constitution and its untethered you how our government operates.”
“Let me say first of all, Justice Scalia was a lion in the law,” Cruz argued. Scalia “spent three decades on the court. Hugh, you and I were both blessed to know him and to know him quite well. I’ve known him for 20 years and he was an extraordinary intellect. He was a man who single-handedly changed the course of American law and indeed as Ronald Reagan was to the presidency so was Antonin Scalia to the Supreme Court and and his death leaves an enormous void on the court.” (RELATED: Ted Cruz Reacts To Death Of Antonin Scalia: ‘One Of The Greatest Justices In History’)
“The court as you know is dangling in the balance and this nomination is going to change the balance of power potentially dramatically on the US Supreme Court,” Cruz said. “And what President Obama does well, is for the last 80 years, the Senate has never confirmed a Supreme Court nominee who was nominated during an election year and this year is not the year to start. Particularly with a president like Obama whose hallmark of this presidency has been the lawlessness and open defiance of the Constitution.”
“We should not allow a lame duck president to ram through a Supreme Court Justice that would dramatically alter the balance of power on the court. Instead we should make this election, 2016 a referendum on the US Supreme Court,” Cruz argued. “And if the Democrats want to put a hard-core liberal on the court, their avenue for trying to do so is win the election in November but let the American people have a choice.”
“That’s what I intend to fight for, that’s what I called for when news of Justice Scalia’s surpassing became public and I’m very gratified that Republican leadership in the Senate it is agreeing with that call and standing united saying no,” he said. “The next president whoever he or she is will be the one making the nomination to fill this vacancy.”
Hewitt followed up, “Senator Cruz, I have been an advocate of no hearings no votes because I don’t want to be personal to whomever the president nominates. It’s perfectly within his right to nominate someone, in fact he could recess appointment someone right now I believe you agree with me on that do you not?”
Obama “certainly has the authority to nominate someone and I expect him to do so. In fact sadly, I expect him to make a very political nomination to nominate someone for whom there is a substantial political constituency in the November elections to try to turn it into a partisan issue,” Cruz said.
“But you know the president’s statement that the Senate it somehow has a responsibility to confirm his nominee is is complete nonsense,” Cruz reiterated. “Under the constitution the Senate has the power to advise and consent. Well, we are advising right now that a lame duck president is not going to get a Supreme Court confirmation in the final year of his presidency. Rather we are going to leave it to the American people.”
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