Megyn Kelly To Cruz: Won’t Judicial Elections Make ‘Court More Political?’

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Fox News host Megyn Kelly on Tuesday night pressed Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on his proposal to subject the Supreme Court justices to retention elections after the court ruled in favor of both Obamacare subsidies and gay marriage.

Under Cruz’s plan, the justices would be appointed to their post, and face a retention election during the second national election after appointment. They would then face election again every eight years.

“You want to rewrite the Constitution in response to a couple of decisions you don’t like?” Kelly asked Cruz about his plan on Tuesday.

“Last week’s decisions were the latest in a long line, and sadly were the nadir of the Supreme Court,” Cruz responded, lamenting that “five unelected judges” redefined marriage.

“But in response to a decision that you feel was politically motivated by the justices who are in the majority, you want to make the court more political?” the Fox host asked.

Cruz told Kelly that the framers of the Constitution intended for Supreme Court justices to face impeachment if the legislature felt they were overreaching, but Cruz said that the Senate could never come together to impeach a justice.

Kelly then asked Cruz, “How would an electorate that twice elected Barack Obama create a court that you like better than the one we have now?”

Cruz pointed out that he is calling for retention elections, and said that the alternative to elections is worse.

“Who in their right mind would design a system where every major public policy issue of the day is decided not by the people, not by the Constitution, not by elected representatives, but by nine elite lawyers in Washington, D.C.?” he asked.

Watch the interview via Fox News:

H/t Mediaite

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. “Who in their right mind would design a system where every major public policy issue of the day is decided not by the people, not by the Constitution, not by elected representatives, but by nine elite lawyers in Washington, D.C.?”

    if Senator sCruz thinks that the designers of the Supreme Court were not in their ‘right minds’ then he is calling into question the legitimacy o the rest Constitution… it was included by the Framers of the Constitution as the third branch of government for a reason…

    all this Bullshit and hand wringing by ‘Conservatives’ is very reminiscent of FDR in the '30s when he had Supreme Court decisions go against his New Deal and he proposed his Court packing remedy… that didn’t fly either…

  2. If gay marriage had been put to a national referendum, as happened in Ireland, the result here would have been the same as the result there.

  3. Notice the words “nine elite lawyers” being used by conservatives? Ask yourself this, is this phrase ever used when there’s a Supreme Court decision that is passed to their liking?

  4. And I’m pretty sure that Sen Cruz, with his fancy-schmancy degrees from Princeton and Harvard Law is an elite lawyer.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

83 more replies

Participants

Avatar for george_c Avatar for alliebean Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for radicalcentrist Avatar for avattoir Avatar for dave_adams Avatar for red_cabbage Avatar for crackerjack Avatar for carlosfiance Avatar for frankly_my_dear Avatar for theyallstink16 Avatar for daveyjones64 Avatar for grawk Avatar for joelopines Avatar for borisjimbo Avatar for eric_jaffa Avatar for starquest Avatar for yeshua Avatar for zrx1100 Avatar for exspectator Avatar for benthere Avatar for cjbinks Avatar for jordanolsen26 Avatar for expfcwintergreen

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: