Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has been bashing Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts all summer for upholding Obamacare, but Wednesday he took his disdain for the Roberts Court one step further. Cruz said he regretted his support of Roberts at the time of his nomination, which came under President George W. Bush’s administration.
“It is true that after George W. Bush nominated John Roberts I supported his confirmation. That was a mistake and I regret that,” Cruz said. “I wouldn’t have nominated John Roberts and indeed Governor [Jeb] Bush pointed out why. It wasn’t that President Bush wanted to appoint a liberal to the court. It is that it was the easier choice.”
The admission came after a back-and-forth between Cruz and former Gov. Jeb Bush, who had been asked about the claims Cruz had previously made that Roberts was a bad choice.
“I’m surprised that Senator Cruz would say that since he was a strong supporter of John Roberts at the time,” Bush said.
In 2005, Cruz wrote a National Review op-ed that said “[A]s a jurist, Judge Roberts’s approach will be that of his entire career: carefully, faithfully applying the Constitution and legal precedent. “
