During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this morning, Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz attempted to prod Biden Attorney General and Justice Department head Merrick Garland into a screaming match over the AG’s response to protestors who showed up outside the homes of Supreme Court justices last spring following the leaked Roe V. Wad opinion that eventually turned into reality.
It did not go over well for Ted.
Cruz dubbed the protesters as rioters and extremists who he says were organizing harassment campaigns against SOCTUS members before trying to chastize the attorney general for a lack of action against the demonstrators.
“The Department of Justice under this president was perfectly happy to refuse to enforce the law and allow threats of violence,” Cruz fumed during the hearing on oversight of the Department of Justice today.
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Ted accused Garland of failing to prosecute anyone involved in the heated protests while citing a federal statute that outlaws protests or picketing near the personal residence of judges in the US with the intent of politically influencing them.
Garland, a former longtime federal judge himself, naturally pushed back against Cruz’s outlandish claims, making clear note of his historic decision, in his capacity as the AG, to issue more than 70 US Marshals to the homes of US justices to offer unprecedented and around-the-clock security.
But Cruz refused to back down on shut up, seemingly attempting to push the Biden attorney general into engaging in a screaming match with him from the Senate floor, refusing to let Garland even speak in full sentences, instead continuing to prod the AG into admitting that no arrests had been made with regard to the protests, to Merrick’s knowledge.
“Can I answer the question?” Garland pointedly questioned.
“No, you cannot,” Ted spit back, “you have refused to answer the question.”
“I believe the men and women of the department pursue their work every single day in a non-partisan and appropriate way,” Garland calmly stated in the hearing, refusing to take Cruz’s bait, much to the senator’s dismay, it seemed.
See the video here:
Featured image via screen capture
