Tipsheet

Sure Enough, Cruz Predicted That SCOTUS Ruling

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  March 04, 2024 10:00 PM

As we've been covering throughout the day, the U.S. Supreme Court earlier on Monday ruled in a 9-0 decision that the "responsibility for enforcing Section 3 against federal officeholders and candidates rests with Congress and not the States." States like Colorado could thus not kick former and potentially future President Donald Trump off of the ballot, as was the case with a 4-3 decision from the Colorado Supreme Court last December. The 9-0 decision was predicted by many legal experts, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who filed a brief in support of Trump.

The brief in question, which was co-led by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) came on January 18, with close to 180 lawmakers from both chambers signing on. It was Cruz's brief that argued that Congress rather than the states that the Constitution empowers to enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, just as the Court held. 

The senator had also predicted in a previous edition of his podcast, "The Verdict," that the ruling would be unanimous, and that all nine justices would come to such a decision because they would avoid answering the question as to whether or not Trump engaged in an insurrection on January 6. In that same podcast episode from January, though, Cruz also reminded that for all of the indictments against Trump, he has yet to be charged with insurrection.

Once the justices heard oral arguments for the Trump v. Anderson case on February 8, the likelihood of a 9-0 ruling came even more likely, as even liberal justices, such as Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, seemed unpersuaded by Colorado's arguments. 

After the decision came down on Monday, Cruz posted a reminder about his predictions made in several January episodes of "The Verdict."

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It wasn't just Colorado that kicked Trump off of the ballot last December, but Maine too. Even more recently, though, one judge in Illinois ruled to kick Trump off the ballot in her state, doing so just last week, despite how this Trump v. Anderson decision would soon be handed down. As Leah covered on Monday, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellow withdrew her effort to kick Trump off of the ballot after the Court handed down its decision. 

In this case, it was Cook County Circuit Judge Tracie Porter who found Trump ineligible when she ruled that the state board of elections "shall remove Donald J. Trump from the ballot for the general primary election on March 19 2024, or cause any votes cast for him to be suppressed." Such a ruling, Cruz said in Monday's episode of "The Verdict," amounts to "voter suppression."

Not only did three states kick Trump off of the ballot, though, but also adding to "a collective effort" against Trump are the indictments and civil cases brought against him, with Cruz also referencing "the Department of Justice's relentless persecution of Trump" as well as the "Georgia and the New York State courts' relentless persecution of Trump." 

"All of this is in total the greatest assault on democracy in the history of our country," the senator said, adding "I do not believe that is hyperbole because what they are trying to do is tell the American people, we will not let you vote for the candidate you want to vote for for president, even though right now he's likely to win. We hate him so much, we're ordering, as the judge in Illinois said quote 'any votes cast for him to be suppressed.'"

When it comes to the next episode of "The Verdict" airing on Wednesday, it's almost certainly going to be quite the episode to listen to as Cruz and Ferguson analyze the case and remind listeners of how right the senator was with his predictions.