Sen. Cruz: Religious Bigotry Should Be Relegated to the History Books
Urges bipartisan support for Professor Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and religious liberty
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today joined his colleagues in the Senate Judiciary Committee in support of Professor Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He was joined by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas), Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and Sens. Todd Young (R-Ind.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and James Lankford (R-Okla.). Professor and Senior Counsel to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, Mark Rienzi, President of the Catholic Bar Association, Joshua McCaig, and President and CEO of Concerned Women for America, Penny Young Nance also joined in support of Professor Barrett’s nomination. Sen. Cruz urged his Democratic colleagues to end their hostility to the Catholic Church, and stand for religious liberty.
Video of Sen. Cruz’s remarks may be viewed here. Still photos of the press conference may be viewed here. The press conference in its entirety may be viewed here. An excerpt of Sen. Cruz’s remarks is below:
“The previous administration persecuted the Little Sisters of the Poor in a way that was truly indefensible. And today in this Senate, we have seen repeatedly nominees grilled not for their qualifications, not for their record, but for their faith.
“We saw Professor Barrett, a distinguished professor at Notre Dame, a respected academic, someone whose credentials are impeccable, grilled by Democratic senators. One Democratic senator demanding, ‘Are you an Orthodox Catholic?’ with the obvious presumption being if the answer were ‘Yes,’ you're not fit to serve on the federal bench. Another Democratic senator calling out, ‘The dogma lives strongly in this one.’ It’s almost as if, we have gone back decades in this institution's history. We saw another nominee being questioned by the runner up for the Democratic presidential nominee. In this instance, the nominee is an evangelical Christian and having his views about salvation, ‘What does your faith teach about salvation?’
“Those questions have no place in a Senate hearing. I recognize that today's Democratic Party is not the party of JFK anymore. Today’s Democratic Party is much more secular. Happily embraces atheists. But if the message of Democrats is ‘Catholics need not apply’ if the message of Democrats is, ‘Evangelical Christians are unfit to serve in office,’ if the message of Democrats are, ‘It's ok if you serve so long as you are not,’ in the word of one Democratic senator a quote, ‘Orthodox Catholic.’’ Then that is a sad, sad testament to where this body is.
“Now, I hope and believe we're not there. I hope and I want to believe that these are aberrations. But we have an opportunity, we're going to have four judicial nominees before the Senate this week. There’s an opportunity for every Democrat voting to decide where he or she stands. Are you part of establishing an unconstitutional religious test contrary to Article VI of the Constitution? Are you part of saying the Democratic party does not welcome Orthodox Catholics? Or will you stand for religious liberty and religious faith?
“It is my hope that Professor Barrett will be confirmed 100 to nothing. Based on what we have seen, I don't think that is likely but I do think we're seeing a test. But it's not a test of the nominees; it is a test of the United States Senate.”
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