During a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee this week, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) attacked Democratic efforts to disparage conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, claiming that they were “engaging in the same disgusting tactics” that then-Sen. Joe Biden had utilized to disparage Thomas in the early 1990s.
Cruz’s comments follow the unusual joint statement from all nine justices of the Supreme Court last week, which stated that they “unanimously reject laws put forward by Democrats aimed at imposing on the ruling justices the exact same ethics responsibilities that apply to every other federal judge,” according to the AP.
Cruz said that “Senate Democrats and their media lapdogs are engaged in a two-pronged political campaign, the first of which is to delegitimize the Supreme Court of the United States because they are upset that the court is dominated by constitutionalists. But, secondly, and most directly, this is a political campaign aimed at smearing Justice Clarence Thomas, and the reason is very simple. The Left dislikes Clarence Thomas, and not only because he is a conservative. Clarence Thomas is hated by the left due to the fact that he happens to be a conservative African American. This is what Clarence Thomas stated during his confirmation hearing. If you are an African American who is free-thinking,” he warned, “a committee of the U.S. Senate will lynch you, ruin you, and caricature you.”
“Well, that hasn’t changed in three decades. It’s become worse,” he said. “And, so to make it clear, this is the Left’s point of view. I’ll give you an example from only three weeks ago: The Democrats must destroy Clarence Thomas’ name. They’ll never be able to impeach him.”
Democrats have attempted to depict a hit article in a left-wing newspaper about Thomas’ travels as evidence of corruption since he did not register the excursions.
The nine justices’ letter last week attempted to address this problem, writing, “Matters addressed here regarding issues related to lodging, travel, and disclosures might at times necessitate taking into account safety guidance.”
Cruz went on to say that Thomas’ 109 journeys since 1991 were significantly fewer than the amount of trips made by certain leftist justices.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg was elected in 1993 and traveled 157 times, but Stephen Breyer was elected in 1994 and traveled 233 times.
