Things went off the rails at a hearing in the United States Senate when Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) exploded in a virulent argument over the propriety and legality of US District Court judges issuing nationwide injections blocking President Donald Trump’s implementation of his agenda.
As background, the hearing in which the two lawmakers exploded at each other was titled “Rule by District Judges II: Exploring Legislative Solutions to the Bipartisan Problem of Universal Injunctions” and was a following up on a 2020 hearing of the same name. In the hearing, the lawmakers discussed the problem of minor judges being able to wreak nation-scale havoc with poorly supported rulings and injunctions.
Sen. Cruz, speaking during the hearing, snapped that the injunctions are illegal and an “abuse of power” exercised by the judiciary. Further, he argued that the injunctions are quite obviously politically motivated, which got Sen. Klobuchar raging at him.
Kicking that off, Sen. Cruz said, “Understand this is the second phase of lawfare.” He continued, noting that the left seeks out judges that agree with it, “Now that their efforts to indict President Trump and stop the voters from re-electing him have failed, they’re going and seeking out individual radical judges.”
Sen. Cruz further said, speaking with a raised voice as his anger got the better of him, “It is the judiciary acting as policy deciders, and it is incumbent on this committee and this body to rein in the abuse of power from these unelected radical judges who are trying to overturn the election because they disagree with what the voters decided,”
Snapping at Sen. Cruz, Sen. Klobuchar went berserk and practically shouted that the only reason leftist judges are blocking his agenda is because it’s unconstitutional, a patently absurd claim given that many injunctions have been overturned. She snidely said, in any case, “Okay, that was a lot. The only reason there are all these injunctions Senator Cruz is because he’s violating the constitution. Why would Trump-appointed judges…”
Setting Sen. Klobuchar off yet further, Cruz then asked a basic question, which is why the left isn’t filing its challenges to Trump’s agenda in blue jurisdictions, if indeed it is obviously illegal. Doing so, he asked her, “Why don’t you file them in red districts?” He added, on the same point, “Why are the Democrat attorneys general seeking out left-wing, blue swing districts?”
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Sen. Klobuchar then pressed Cruz to say what he said again, insinuating that she would blow up at him if he did so. She snapped, “What did you just say?” Responding, the Texas senator told her, “Why don’t you file them in red districts? Why are the Democratic attorneys general seeking out left-wing —”
The hearing then devolved into madness and mutual snapping at each other. Eventually, Klobuchar said, referring to her past arguments with Cruz, “It’s so exciting to be following Senator Cruz once again.” She added, “I will take more than my time since he’s taking more than his time to yell at me.” Cruz snapped back, concluding the exchange, “I’m not yelling, I asked a question.”
Watch them here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video