"THEY DON'T WANT THE TRUTH TO BE HEARD"
"LIBERALS FEAR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE"
"YOU WERE CALLED FOR A TIME SUCH AS THIS"
OBAMA HECKLERS INTERRUPT SPEECH
Ted Cruz
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz (born December 22, 1970)[1] is the junior United States Senator for the state of
Texas since 2013, and is a member of the Republican Party. He was Solicitor General of Texas from 2003 to May
2008, after being appointed byTexas Attorney General Greg Abbott.[1] He was the first Hispanic Solicitor General
in Texas,[3] the youngest Solicitor General in the United States, and the Solicitor General with the longest tenure
in Texas history. He was also the first Hispanic to be elected U.S. Senator from Texas.[4]
Cruz was a partner at the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, where he led the firm’s U.S. Supreme Court and
national appellate litigation practice.[5]
Between 1999 and 2003, Cruz served as the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade
Commission, anAssociate Deputy Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice, and as Domestic
Policy Advisor to U.S. PresidentGeorge W. Bush on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign. In addition, Cruz was an
Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, where he taught U.S. Supreme Court
litigation, from 2004 to 2009.
Cruz was the Republican nominee for the Senate seat which was vacated by fellow Republican Kay Bailey
Hutchison.[6] On July 31, 2012, he defeated Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst in the Republican primary runoff,
57–43.[7] Cruz defeated theDemocrat, former state Representative Paul Sadler, in the general election held on
November 6, 2012; he prevailed with 56–41 over Sadler.[7] Cruz supports the Tea Party and is endorsed by the
On November 14, 2012, Cruz was appointed vice-chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.[9]
| Ted Cruz | |
|---|---|
| United States Senator from Texas | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 3, 2013 Serving with John Cornyn | |
| Preceded by | Kay Bailey Hutchison |
| Solicitor General of Texas | |
| In office January 9, 2003 – May 2008 | |
| Governor | Rick Perry |
| Preceded by | Julie Parsley |
| Succeeded by | James Ho |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Rafael Edward Cruz December 22, 1970 Calgary, AB, Canada[1] |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Heidi Suzanne (Nelson) Cruz |
| Children | 2 |
| Residence | Houston, Texas |
| Alma mater | Princeton University (A.B.)(1992) (cum laude)[1] Harvard University (J.D.)(1995) (magna cum laude)[1] |
| Religion | Southern Baptist[2] |
| Website | Ted Cruz for Senate Senator Ted Cruz |
Contents
[hide]Early life
[11][12][10][13][14][15] and Rafael Bienvenido Cruz,[14][13] were working in the oil business.[16][17] His
parents owned a seismic-data processing firm for oil drillers.[13][18] Cruz's father, who was born in 1939 in
Matanzas, Cuba,[14][13] did, as Robert T. Garrett of the Dallas Morning News has described, "suffered beatings
and imprisonment for protesting the oppressive regime"[13][18] of dictatorFulgencio Batista. He fought for
communist revolutionary Fidel Castro in the Cuban Revolution[19][20] when he was 14 years old, but "didn't know
Castro was a Communist." A few years later he became a staunch critic of Castro when "the rebel leader took
control and began seizing private property and suppressing dissent."[13][21] The elder Cruz fled Cuba in 1957 at
the age of 18, landing in Austin[18] to study at the University of Texas, knowing no English and with only $100
sewn into his underwear.[22][23] His younger sister fought in the counter-revolution and was tortured by the new
regime.[20] He remained regretful for his early support of Castro, and emphatically conveyed this remorse to his
young son over the following years.[13][20] The elder Cruz worked his way through college as a dishwasher,
making 50 cents an hour,[12] earning a degree in mathematics.[18] Cruz's father today is a pastor in Carrollton,
Cruz's mother was born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware,[14] in a family of Irish and Italian descent.[17][12]
She was the first person in her family to attend college. She earned an undergraduate degree in mathematics
from Rice University in Houston in the 1950s, working summers at Foley's and Shell Oil.[24] She later worked in
Houston as a computer programmer at Shell.[18] Cruz has said, "I'm Cuban, Irish, and Italian, and yet somehow
I ended up Southern Baptist."[25]
Cruz's parents returned to Houston in 1974, after working in the Alberta oil fields, when a slump hit the price of
oil and they sold their first seismic data company.[11] Cruz's mother and father divorced after when Ted was in
law school.[18]
Education
Cruz attended high school at Faith West Academy in Katy, Texas,[26] and later graduated from Second Baptist
High School in Houston as valedictorian in 1988.[11] During high school, Cruz participated in a Houston-based
group called the Free Market Education Foundation where Cruz learned about free-market economic philosophers
such as Milton Friedman, Friedrich Hayek, Frédéric Bastiat and Ludwig von Mises.[20] The program was run by
Rolland Storey and Cruz entered the program at the age of 13.[18]
Cruz graduated cum laude from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts from the Woodrow Wilson School of
Public and International Affairs in 1992.[1][4] While at Princeton, he competed for the American Whig-Cliosophic
Society's Debate Panel and won the top speaker award at both the 1992 U.S. National Debating Championship
and the 1992 North American Debating Championship.[27] In 1992, he was named U.S. National Speaker of the
Year and Team of the Year (with his debate partner, David Panton).[27] Cruz was also a semi-finalist at the 1995
Cruz's senior thesis on the separation of powers, titled "Clipping the Wings of Angels," draws its inspiration from
a passage attributed to President James Madison: "If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal
controls on government would be necessary." Cruz argued that the drafters of the Constitution intended to protect
the rights of their constituents, and the last two items in the Bill of Rights offered an explicit stop against an
all-powerful state. Cruz wrote: "They simply do so from different directions. The Tenthstops new powers, and the
After graduating from Princeton, Cruz attended Harvard Law School, graduating magna cum laude in 1995 with
a Juris Doctor.[1][30] While at Harvard Law, Cruz was a primary editor of the Harvard Law Review, and executive
editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, and a founding editor of the Harvard Latino Law Review.[4]
Referring to Cruz's time as a student at Harvard Law, Professor Alan Dershowitz said, "Cruz was off-the-charts
brilliant."[12][31][32][33][34][35] At Harvard Law, Cruz was a John M. Olin Fellow in Law and Economics.[36]
Legal career
Cruz giving a speech to the Montgomery County Republican Party meeting held in Conroe, Texas,
on August 19, 2013
Clerkships
Cruz served as a law clerk to J. Michael Luttig of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in
1995[3][36] and William Rehnquist,Chief Justice of the United States in 1996.[1] Cruz was the first Hispanic ever
to clerk for a Chief Justice of the United States.[38]
Private practice
After Cruz finished his clerkships, he took a position with Cooper, Carvin & Rosenthal, which is now known as
Cooper & Kirk, LLC, from 1997 to 1998.[39]
In 1998, Cruz served as private counsel for Congressman John Boehner during Boehner's lawsuit against
Congressman Jim McDermott for releasing a tape recording of a Boehner telephone conversation.[40]
Bush Administration
Cruz joined the Bush–Cheney campaign in 1999 as a domestic policy adviser, advising then-Governor George W.
Bush on a wide range of policy and legal matters, including civil justice, criminal justice, constitutional law,
immigration, and government reform.[39]
Cruz assisted in assembling the Bush legal team, devise strategy, and draft pleadings for filing with the Supreme
Court of Florida and U.S. Supreme Court, the specific case being Bush v. Gore, during the 2000 Florida presidential
After President Bush took office, Cruz served as an associate deputy attorney general in the U.S. Justice
Department[1][41] and as the director of policy planning at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.[1][12][41]
Texas Solicitor General
Appointed to the office of Solicitor General of Texas by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott,[3][42] Cruz served
Cruz has authored more than 80 United States Supreme Court briefs and presented 43 oral arguments, including
nine before the United States Supreme Court.[3][22][12] Cruz's record of having argued before the Supreme
Court nine times is more than any practicing lawyer in Texas or any current member of Congress.[43] Cruz has
commented on his nine cases in front of the U.S. Supreme Court: "We ended up year after year arguing some of
the biggest cases in the country. There was a degree of serendipity in that, but there was also a concerted effort
to seek out and lead conservative fights."[43]
In the landmark case of District of Columbia v. Heller, Cruz drafted the amicus brief signed by attorneys general of
31 states, which said that the D.C. handgun ban should be struck down as infringing upon the Second Amendment
right to keep and bear arms.[22][44] Cruz also presented oral argument for the amici states in the companion
case to Heller before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.[22][45]
In addition to his success in Heller, Cruz has successfully defended the constitutionality of Ten Commandments
monument on the Texas State Capitol grounds before the Fifth Circuitand the U.S. Supreme Court, winning 5-4
Cruz authored a U.S. Supreme Court brief for all 50 states successfully defending the recitation of the Pledge of
Cruz served as lead counsel for the state and successfully defended the multiple litigation challenges to the 2003
Texas congressional redistricting plan in state and federal district courts and before the U.S. Supreme Court,
Cruz also successfully defended, in Medellin v. Texas, the State of Texas against an attempt by the International
Court of Justice to re-open the criminal convictions of 51 murderers on death row throughout the United
Cruz has been named by American Lawyer magazine as one of the 50 Best Litigators under 45 in
Private practice
After leaving the Solicitor General position in 2008, he worked in a private law firm in Houston, Morgan, Lewis
& Bockius, often representing corporate clients, until he was sworn in a U.S. Senator from Texas in 2013.[24][36]
At Morgan, Lewis, he led the firm’s U.S. Supreme Court and national appellate litigation practice.[5]
In 2009, while working for Morgan, Lewis, Cruz formed and then abandoned a bid for state attorney general when
the incumbent Attorney General Greg Abbott, who hired Cruz as Solicitor General, decided to run for re-election.[11]
U.S. Senate
2012 election
Main article: United States Senate election in Texas, 2012
Cruz's election has been described by the Washington Post as “the biggest upset of 2012 . . . a true grassroots
victory against very long odds.”[52] On January 19, 2011, after U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison said she would
not seek reelection, Cruz announced his candidacy via a blogger conference call.[6] In the Republican senatorial
primary, Cruz ran against sitting Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst. Cruz was endorsed by the Club for Growth,
a fiscally conservative political action committee;[53] Erick Erickson, editor of prominent conservative blog Red
State;[54] the FreedomWorks for America super PAC;[55] nationally syndicated radio host Mark Levin;[56] former
Attorney General Edwin Meese;[41] Tea Party Express;[57] Young Conservatives of Texas;[58] and U.S. Senators
Tom Coburn,[59] Jim DeMint,[60] Mike Lee,[61] Rand Paul[62] and Pat Toomey.[63] He was also endorsed by
former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin[64] and former Texas Congressman Ron Paul,[65] George P. Bush,[41] and
former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania Rick Santorum.[66]
Cruz won the runoff for the Republican nomination with a 14-point margin over Dewhurst.[67] In the November 6
general election, Cruz faced Democrat Paul Sadler, an attorney and a former state representative from Henderson,
in east Texas. Cruz won with 4.5 million votes (56.4%) to Sadler's 3.2 million (40.6%). Two minor candidates got
Political positions
Cruz is pro-life, with an exception only when a pregnancy endangers the mother's life.[70][71] Cruz also supports
a federal definition of marriage and opposes same-sex marriage.[72]
Cruz is a gun-rights supporter.[73] On March 25, 2013, an announcement was made by Cruz and U.S. Senators
Rand Paul and Mike Lee threatening that they would filibuster any legislation that would entail gun control, such
as the Manchin-Toomey Amendment, which would require additional background checks on sales at gun shows.[74]
On April 17, 2013, Cruz voted against the Manchin-Toomey Amendment.[75] Republicans successfully filibustered
the amendment by a vote of 54–46, as 60 votes were needed for cloture.[76]
On April 17, 2013, Cruz voted against the Manchin-Toomey Amendment.[75] Republicans successfully filibustered
the amendment by a vote of 54–46, as 60 votes were needed for cloture.[76]
Regarding foreign policy, in 2004, he criticized Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry for being "against
defending American values, against standing up to our enemies, and, in effect, for appeasing totalitarian
despots." [77] In 2013, Cruz stated that America had no “dog in the fight” during the Syrian civil war.[78]
Affordable Care Act and U.S. government shutdown of 2013
Main article: Affordable Care Act
Main article: United States federal government shutdown of 2013
In the summer of 2013, Cruz embarked on a nationwide tour sponsored by The Heritage Foundation to promote
a congressional effort to defund the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, arguing that a shutdown of the
On September 24, 2013, Cruz began a speech on the floor of the Senate regarding the Affordable Care Act
relative to a continuing resolution designed to fund the government and avert a government shutdown.[81][82]
Cruz promised to keep speaking until he was "no longer able to stand."[83] Cruz yielded the floor at noon the
following day for the start of the proceeding legislative session after twenty-one hours nineteen minutes.[84]
His speech was the fourth-longest in United States Senate history.[85] Following Cruz's speech, the Senate voted
100–0 regarding a "procedural hurdle toward passing a stopgap funding bill to avert a government shutdown."[86]
Cruz was joined by 18 Republican senators in his effort to prevent stripping out a clause that would have defunded
the Affordable Care by voting against the cloture motion, leaving the effort 21 votes short of the required number
to deny cloture.[87]
Cruz is believed to a major force behind the U.S. government shutdown in 2013.[88][89] Cruz delivered a
message on October 11, 2013 to fellow Republicans against acceptingObamacare and describing it as a "train
wreck," claimed the American people remain "energized" around the goal of gutting the law.[90] Cruz claimed
Obamacare is causing "enormous harm" to the economy.[90] Republican strategist Mike Murphy stated: "Cruz
is trying to start a wave of Salem witch trials in the G.O.P. on the shutdown and Obamacare, and that fear is
impacting some people’s calculations on 2016."[89]
The Houston Chronicle which had endorsed Cruz in the general election, regretted that he had not lived up to the
standard set by the previous U.S. Senator from Texas, Kay Bailey Hutchison.[91][92] After a deal was made to
end the shutdown and to extend the debt-ceiling deadline, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell called Cruz's
actions "not a smart play" and a "tactical error"[93] and Cruz stated: “I would do anything, and I will continue to
do anything I can, to stop the train wreck that is Obamacare. The test that matters. . . is are we doing anything
for all the people that are getting hurt from Obamacare?”[94]
Committee assignments
- Committee on Armed Services
- Committee on the Judiciary
- Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
- Committee on Rules and Administration
- Special Committee on Aging
Speculation for higher office
Further information: United States presidential election, 2016
Many commentators have expressed their opinion that Cruz is running for President in 2016.[95][96][97]
On March 14, 2013, Cruz gave the keynote speech at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference in
Washington DC.[98] He came in tied for 7th place in the 2013 CPAC straw poll on March 16, winning 4% of the
votes cast.[99]
Cruz planned several speaking events for the summer of 2013 across Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina
which are early primary states, leading to speculation that he was laying the groundwork for a run for President
in 2016.[100]
As Cruz was born in Canada, various commentators from the Austin American-Statesman[101] and the
Los Angeles Times,[102] discussed Cruz's legal status as a natural-born citizen. Because he was a U.S. citizen at
birth (since his mother was a U.S. citizen who lived in the U.S. for more than 10 years as required by the
Nationality Act of 1940), most commentators believe Cruz is eligible to serve as President of the United
States.[10][103][10][104] After hearing that according to legal experts he is a dual citizen of Canada and the
U.S., Cruz announced on August 19, 2013 that he would renounce his Canadian citizenship.[105]
Personal life
Cruz and his wife, Heidi Cruz (née Nelson), have two daughters. Cruz met his wife while working on the George
W. Bush presidential campaign of 2000. Cruz's wife is currently head of the Southwest Region in the Investment
Management Division of Goldman, Sachs & Co. and previously worked in the White House for Condoleezza Rice
and in New York as aninvestment banker.[106]
