At least one American Senator is willing to speak truth to power.
Republican presidential contender Ted Cruz attacked Chief Justice John Roberts and other members of the Supreme Court in unusually harsh terms Thursday, referring to them as “rogue justices” and “robed Houdinis” after a 6-3 decision to uphold President Barack Obama’s health care law.
Cruz, a Texas senator, did not mention any current high court members by name in remarks on the Senate floor. But his speech included a thinly veiled reference to Roberts, part of the court majority that upheld tax credits that defray the cost of coverage for lower-income individuals nationwide.
“These justices are not behaving as umpires calling balls and strikes. They have joined a team,” the Texas lawmaker said.
At his Senate confirmation hearing a decade ago, Roberts said, “I will remember that it’s my job to call balls and strikes and not to pitch or bat.”
Cruz also said the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist — whom Roberts succeeded — “would be filled with sorrow at what has become of the Supreme Court of the United States.”
…He said the decision was “judicial activism, plain and simple,” and said the court spoke for “nakedly political reasons … They are lawless, and they hide their prevarication in legalese.”
While Cruz did not explain his reference to “robed Houdinis,” Harry Houdini was an early 20th-century magician who specialized in escaping from jails, straitjackets, coffins and other seemingly inescapable surroundings…
During its original framing, the Constitution was intended to represent a straitjacket on the federal government.
The bounds have been slipped. The American Republic is no more.
Read more at Ted Cruz.
