During a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was apoplectic about the leaking of a draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn 1973’s Roe v. Wade ruling which gave American women the right to make their own reproductive choices, including the right to a safe, legal abortion.
According to Cruz, if one “criminal law clerk” can leak draft SCOTUS decisions, “it does possibly permanent damage to the Supreme Court.”
That led Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) to light into Cruz and remind him that he and other Republicans have tried to downplay the seriousness of what took place on January 6, 2021, and yet they now want to raise holy hell about a leaked court opinion, noting that she was “frankly shocked” that Republicans are still “shocked by the leak rather than the fact that we have radical right-wing justices on our Supreme Court who are poised to take away a constitutional right — not just any right, but a constitutional right that women in our country have relied on for almost 50 years.”
Hirono then added:
“And to listen to my colleagues going on about comments that are made by organizations and individuals, that is called free speech the last time I looked, and I know for a fact that the Republicans are constantly talking about free speech rights — in fact, even describing the January 6 riot as legitimate political discourse.”
Sen. Hirono is absolutely right. Republicans have repeatedly poo-pooed the fact that Trump supporters attacked the seat of government in order to try and carry out a coup that would overturn the results of a free and fair election. They were aided in their efforts by senators such as Cruz and Josh Hawley (R-MO), both of whom wanted to delay the certification of the electoral votes on Jan. 6 in order to give Trump and his allies more time to carry out their nefarious plans.
A leaked document is a bigger threat than a violent attack on the Capitol? Ted Cruz needs to shut his trap and hang his head in shame.