"Today's decision from the Supreme Court in the Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California, is disgraceful," Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said of the high court's decision to uphold President Obama's DACA program. He later added it was a "charade."
And he got right to the source of the problem: Chief Justice John Roberts.
"Judging is not a game," the senator said in his speech on the Senate floor on Thursday. "It's not supposed to be a game. But sadly, more and more, Chief Justice John Roberts has been playing with the court to achieve the policy outcomes he desires."
#BREAKING: Sen. @tedcruz blasts John Roberts, SCOTUS DACA "disgraceful" decision: "Sadly, over recent years, more and more, Chief Justice Roberts has been playing games with the Court." pic.twitter.com/KioYVCjY75
— The Hill (@thehill) June 18, 2020
Cruz singled out the chief justice for a reason. For years Roberts, a President George W. Bush appointee, has disappointed conservatives by being a liberal swing vote, most infamously when he sided with the same four liberals on the court to uphold Obamacare's individual mandate in 2012, singlehandedly saving the ACA. His "sleight of hand" was on display again last year, when he sided with his liberal colleagues to vote down the common sense census question, "Are you a citizen of the United States?" Cruz recalled.
Notwithstanding Roberts's apparent bias, Cruz was taken aback by the court's reasoning for upholding DACA. For one thing, the court basically admitted that the program, enacted under President Obama, was unconstitutional. Yet, they argued that the Trump administration's weak legal reasoning "wasn't explained clearly enough" or "detailed enough" to rescind it. Cruz called it a "clever little twist" by the court.
"Five justices today held that it was illegal for the Trump administration to stop breaking the law," he said, laughing. "That's bizarre."
But he knows their endgame. According to Cruz, Roberts and the four liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan are hoping President Trump is president no longer come next January.
You can watch Sen. Cruz's whole speech here.