Sen. Ted Cruz is vowing to filibuster whoever President Obama might nominate to the Supreme Court this year, insisting Congress should hold off on replacing Justice Antonin Scalia until there’s a new president.
“I believe we should make the 2016 election a referendum on the Supreme Court,” the Texas Republican said Monday morning on Fox News. “One more liberal justice and we will see our fundamental rights taken away.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he won’t allow the Senate to consider an Obama nominee, as the president is set to leave office early next year. Cruz and other GOP presidential contenders have applauded his announcement.
“It’s the right thing to do and it’s the respect the American people are owed,” Cruz said. “When it comes to what is at stake in this election, very little compares to preserving our constitutional rights, our religious liberty, our second amendment.”
But when asked whether he would criticize a Democrat-led Senate for refusing an election year nomination from a GOP president — were the tables flipped — Cruz didn’t respond directly, instead saying that’s the type of action Sen. Chuck Schumer backed near the end of George W. Bush’s term.
“That was actually the position of the Democrats,” Cruz responded. “We have an election, this election is coming up in November … I was very pleased to see Republican leadership follow what I had called for and saying we’re not going to take it up.”
