Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Attorney General Merrick Garland got into a heated back and forth that evolved into a screaming match over Supreme Court Justices facing threats in the wake of the leak of the Roe v Wade reversal.
Cruz accused Garland of “sitting on [his] hands” while protesters “descended” on the homes of Supreme Court Justices who voted to reverse Roe v Wade. During the fallout from the Roe v Wade opinion leak, the group Ruth Sent Us doxxed some of the Justices, publishing their actual addresses and encouraging people to protest outside their homes. Google later took down the published map for violating their rules.
Cruz mentioned the arrest of an armed protester outside the home of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
“In the wake of the leak of the Dobbs decision. When rioters descended on the homes of six Supreme Court Justices, night after night after night, you did nothing. The department did nothing,” Cruz told Garland on Wednesday.
It was evident almost right away that a conversation between the two was not in the cards as Cruz grew frustrated with Garland repeatedly refusing to directly answer the question of how many people he prosecuted for threatening government officials, i.e. Supreme Court Justices.
Garland repeatedly defended his actions, but dodged giving a direct yes or no for a time, choosing to instead tout that he sent more than 70 U.S. Marshals with the mission of providing more protection to Justices.
“Senator, you asked me whether I sat on my hands and quite the opposite, I sent 70 Unites States Marshals —” Garland said before Cruz jumped in
“Let me try again, has the department brought even a single case under this statute? It’s a yes or no question, it’s not a give a speech on the other things you did,” Cruz said.
“The job of the united States Marshals is to defend the lives of —”
“So the answer is no?” Cruz said.
“It’s to defend the lives of Justices and that’s our number one priority. They have full —” Garland said before Cruz pushed him to give a simple answer again.
“Why are you unwilling to say no? The answer’s no. You know it’s no. I know it’s no. Everyone in this hearing room knows it’s no. You’re not willing to answer a question! Have you brought a case under this statute, yes or no?” Cruz said.
Things got especially heated when the two could not agree on who ultimately would be responsible for punishing any protesters threatening Justices. Cruz argued because the Department of Justice makes the determination on whether to prosecute, they are responsible for a lack of action, while Garland argued the Marshals make the ultimate decision on an arrest before a determination about prosecution can be made.
Ultimately, the senator wanted Garland to say that the Department of Justice was not interested in prosecuting or arresting anyone, something Garland would not concede, continually pushing responsibility to the U.S. Marshals.
The back and forth only got more heated with Cruz at one point telling Garland to not even bother trying to answer a question after having avoided it so many times.
“I recognize you want to give a separate speech. How do you decide which statutes you enforce and which ones you don’t?” Cruz said.
“The Marshals on scene make that determination in light of the priority of —”
“The Marshals do not make a determination on whether to prosecute,” Cruz said, jumping in again. “You the attorney general, make a determination and you spent 20 years as a judge, and you’re perfectly content with Justices being afraid for their children’s lives and you did nothing to prosecute it.”
“Can I answer the question!?” a frustrated Garland said.
“No, you cannot. You have refused to answer the question,” Cruz said.
Cruz chalked up the lack of prosecutions to a “political bias” with Garland, while the attorney general continued to argue arrests would have been conducted by the assigned U.S. Marshals.
Watch above via C-SPAN 3.
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