On the latest episode of his podcast Verdict, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and co-host Ben Ferguson featured the latest viral video by MRC’s NewsBusters from our Bill D’Agostino in a segment lambasting the liberal media for melting down over Monday’s 9-0 Supreme Court decision for former President Trump, denying leftists a chance to remove his name from state ballots and interfere in the election.
Ferguson introduced the montage by way of something they had discussed a few minutes earlier, which “was how the media covered the decision” in the initial moments and, with the broadcast networks in particular, they were “genuine and authentic for that moment before the partisan hackery” arrived.
Leaving aside the dispassionate first reactions, Ferguson later said the press quickly decided they were “done with that” and told Cruz and listeners to check out “this montage” (see below) “of the media losing their minds over a 9-0 decision from the Supreme Court.”
Ferguson tossed to Cruz with a “wow”, calling the clips emblematic of the left “laying the groundwork for what they want to do” to delegitimize, pack, or even dismantle the Court if they don’t get their way."
Cruz replied by tearing into the “partisan hacks in the media who are losing their minds” and highlighting his favorite moment, which was MSNBC’s Katy Tur asking Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D) if the Supreme Court was “partisan”.
The Texas Senator provided a reality check on why “it’s truly absurd”:
And understand what they’re saying. They’re saying Elena Kagan. appointed the Supreme Court by a Democrat President. is a partisan Republican. They’re saying Sonia Sotomayor, appointed by this — to the Supreme Court by a Democrat President, is a Republican partisan and my favorite is they’re saying Ketanji Brown Jackson, appointed the Supreme Court by Joe Biden, is a partisan in the tank for Donald Trump. That’s what they just said and it’s truly absurd.
Cruz also took aim at the ludicrous claims in the liberal media that the real breakdown was 5-4, not 9-0. To do so, he read from the concurrence by Justice Amy Coney Barrett:
Look, was there a disagreement over some of the grounds of the decision? Yes, but I actually want to read from — from a portion of — Amy Coney Barrett wrote a very short concurrence and I want to read from her final paragraph. “The majority’s choice of a different path leaves the remaining justices with a choice of how to respond. In my judgment, this is not the time to amplify disagreements with stridency. The Court has settled a politically-charged issue in the volatile season of a presidential election, particularly in this circumstance. Writings on the Court should turn the national temperature down, not up. For present purposes, our differences are far less important than our unanimity. All nine justices agree on the outcome of this case. That is the message Americans should take home.”
Taking that into account, Cruz reiterated that not only was this “an important victory for the rule of law,” but it was also a win for our “democracy” and the Court itself.
Earlier in the podcast, Cruz provided a substantive, thorough breakdown of not only the ruling, but also the importance of the Court making its decision unanimous (click “expand”):
CRUZ: [A]s soon as the Colorado Supreme Court made its decision, a divided four-three decision, where four partisan Democrat justices order Trump thrown off the ballot, you and I went on this podcast immediately thereafter. And we said that day — we said, this is not going to stand, this decision will be reversed. And — and indeed, I said, the chances of it being reversed, I believe, are 100%. Now look, that’s always dangerous to make a prediction where you’re predicting 100%.
FERGUSON: Sure.
CRUZ: But we went further because I said not only is it 100% that it will be reversed, I said at the time literally the day after the decision, I said, I think there’s a very good chance the decision is unanimous. Now, at the time, there were not many people saying that. There were lots of commentators on TV saying, well, they may reverse it, but it will be partisan. It will be divided among party lines. Well, that — that was not the case. What is most significant about Monday’s decision is that it was nine to zero. It was nine to zero.
(....)
CRUZ: Look, we have some very liberal justices. We have Elena Kagan, we have Sonia Sotomayor, we have Ketanji Brown Jackson, and all of them agreed with the outcome that the Colorado Supreme Court decision was wrong, and that Donald Trump should stay on the ballot. That is a big, big deal and I am so grateful as I sit here tonight, I am grateful it was nine-zero. If we had woken up, if — if we had turned on the TV or picked up our phones and looked and saw that it was a 6-3 decision. It was just straight party lines. And the three Democrat appointees were like no, no, no, you must throw Trump off the ballot, he’s an insurrectionist, the result would have been the same. Trump would have stayed on the ballot, but I think that would have been a terrible outcome for the country and I think it would have been a terrible outcome for the court. Look, just about every major institution in our country, its credibility has been undermined in recent years, people have less faith in the institutions of our country to understand why we’ve seen a lot of our institutions really corrupted and — and you and I talk about that a lot on this podcast. But for the court, I think it’s important for the long-term rule of law in our nation. I think it’s important for the protection of our constitutional liberties for the court to have some modicum of credibility. And — and so, I am grateful for the Democratic appointees for doing the right thing, the right thing under the law. But it was important for the court, and I think it is important for the country.
Cruz then zoomed out to give a history lesson, noting that the 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education that desegregated American schools — “one of the most important if not the most important decision the Supreme Court has ever issued” and overturned Plessy v. Ferguson — was also unanimous.
“The justices understood that — that ordering schools to desegregate — schools that had been segregated for a long, long time, schools that had a long history of racial animus that was going to be a controversial decision, and the court wanted to speak with one unanimous voice,” he explained.
With our system of government at stake in this case, Cruz argued it was “paramount that it is the voters who decide that it is, not partisans” wearing robes in Colorado, Illinois, or Maine.
Setting aside the fact that “there’s lots of ballot litigation” Americans might not realize (and frequently center around an x-number of signatures being required for a candidate to appear on ballots), Cruz said Trump v. Anderson happened because “these partisans hated Donald Trump and, fundamentally, I think they were afraid the voters, if given the chance, would vote for him.”
To see the relevant transcript from the March 6 episode, click here.
