GOP front-runners Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz invoked the name of constitutional law professor Laurence Tribe during Thursday night’s GOP debate in South Carolina.
Tribe has recently questioned Cruz’s eligibility for the presidency because he was born in Canada. But at the same time, Tribe has become an unlikely hero for many Republicans opposing President Obama’s far-reaching climate rules.
Tribe has testified before Congress against the president’s regulations and has argued in federal appeals court against the centerpiece of the Obama climate change agenda, the Clean Power Plan.
His argument that the Clean Power Plan is unconstitutional is being cited in lawsuits now before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals by more than two dozen states challenging the rule. The Environmental Protection Agency rules require states to cut greenhouse gas emissions by one-third by 2030. The states and business groups say the EPA is overstepping its authority.
Tribe’s name arose Thursday night when Trump defended his position that Cruz remains vulnerable to a potential Democratic lawsuit because of his birth outside of the United States.
“I’ve spent my entire life defending the Constitution before the Supreme Court and … I won’t be taking legal advice from Donald Trump,” Cruz said.
“You don’t have to,” Trump replied. “Take it from your own professor.”
“Mr. Trump is very focused on Larry Tribe,” Cruz said. “Let me tell you who Larry Tribe is. He’s a left-wing judicial activist, Harvard law professor” who was Al Gore’s lawyer and is “a major Hillary supporter.”
“And there is a reason why Hillary supporters are echoing Donald’s attacks on me,” Cruz said. “Because Hillary wants to face Donald in a general election.”
