TED CRUZ: Obama shouldn't appoint Justice Scalia's successor
REUTERS/Brian Snyder
"Justice Scalia was an American hero. We owe it to him, & the Nation, for the Senate to ensure that the next President names his replacement," he tweeted.
Cruz, who served as Texas' solicitor general argued several cases in front of Scalia, praised the justice's decades-long tenure on the court. He singled out his insistence on a textual interpretation of the US Constitution.
"Today our Nation mourns the loss of one of the greatest Justices in history - Justice Antonin Scalia," Cruz said in a statement. "A champion of our liberties and a stalwart defender of the Constitution, he will go down as one of the few Justices who single-handedly changed the course of legal history."
The statement continued:
"As liberals and conservatives alike would agree, through his powerful and persuasive opinions, Justice Scalia fundamentally changed how courts interpret the Constitution and statutes, returning the focus to the original meaning of the text after decades of judicial activism. And he authored some of the most important decisions ever, including District of Columbia v. Heller, which recognized our fundamental right under the Second Amendment to keep and bear arms. He was an unrelenting defender of religious liberty, free speech, federalism, the constitutional separation of powers, and private property rights. All liberty-loving Americans should be in mourning.
Others wasted little time predicting the political fallout of Scalia 's sudden death Saturday.
A spokesperson for Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) tweeted that Senate Republicans would likely attempt to push the confirmation of Scalia's replacement into the next president's term.
What is less than zero? The chances of Obama successfully appointing a Supreme Court Justice to replace Scalia?
- Conn Carroll (@conncarroll) February 13, 2016
Indeed, the replacement of Supreme Court justices has become a major 2016 presidential campaign issue, as court watchers had speculated that some current members of the bench could retire. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's website has an entire page dedicated to the court, warning supporters that a Republican president could oversee a shift to the right.
"As many as four seats on the Supreme Court could become vacant during the next few years - which means that a Republican president could have the power to transform the court, and American law, for generations to come," Clinton's site says.
"That's why it's so terrifying when Ted Cruz says he would be 'willing to spend the capital to ensure that every Supreme Court nominee that I put on the court is a principled judicial conservative.' But he's not alone: all of the Republican candidates for president are likely to appoint staunchly conservative justices."
- Colon cancer rates are rising in young people. If you have two symptoms you should get a colonoscopy, a GI oncologist says.
- I spent $2,000 for 7 nights in a 179-square-foot room on one of the world's largest cruise ships. Take a look inside my cabin.
- An Ambani disruption in OTT: At just ₹1 per day, you can now enjoy ad-free content on JioCinema
- SC rejects pleas seeking cross-verification of votes cast using EVMs with VVPAT
- Ultraviolette F77 Mach 2 electric sports bike launched in India starting at ₹2.99 lakh
- Deloitte projects India's FY25 GDP growth at 6.6%
- Italian PM Meloni invites PM Modi to G7 Summit Outreach Session in June
- Markets rally for 6th day running on firm Asian peers; Tech Mahindra jumps over 12%
- JNK India IPO allotment date
- JioCinema New Plans
- Realme Narzo 70 Launched
- Apple Let Loose event
- Elon Musk Apology
- RIL cash flows
- Charlie Munger
- Feedbank IPO allotment
- Tata IPO allotment
- Most generous retirement plans
- Broadcom lays off
- Cibil Score vs Cibil Report
- Birla and Bajaj in top Richest
- Nestle Sept 2023 report
- India Equity Market