'It Was Blatantly Unconstitutional -- And Every Single Democrat Voted For It': Ted Cruz Torches Dems

i'm brittany lewis with forbes breaking news at tuesday's senate rules committee hearing senator ted cruz decry democrats claiming they opposed free speech the texas republican claimed that quote every single democrat voted to repeal the free speech protections of the first amendment his claim caused a stir in the senate room as cruz explained the vote gave congress the power to control spending in political advertising and speech cruz has made attacking democrats on the issue of speech a hallmark of his criticisms which could be a central plank in a possible 2024 presidential campaign take a listen to senator cruz's full remarks our cruz is up next and i'll turn the gavel over to senator merkley senator cruz thank you madam chair thank you mr chair there was a time when democrats supported free speech there was a time when members across the aisle actually believed in the first amendment unfortunately that time has long since passed in 2014 congress considered an amendment from democrats to repeal the free speech provisions of the first amendment i was at the time the ranking member on the senate constitution subcommittee the judiciary committee i led the fight against it ultimately that amendment came to a vote on the senate floor and every single senate democrat voted to repeal the free speech protections of the first amendment sure it was a vote that would have given congress plenary power to regulate the initial version was to regulate any and all political speech by anyone it literally would have said any expenditure of money for political speech so it would have said that if a little old lady went to home depot and spent five dollars to buy a yard a cardboard sign and a stick to say vote the bomb out that congress could make it a felony and put her in jail it also could have given congress the ability to criminalize union organizing the democrats realize that that version of the amendment was too extreme even for them so there was a second version that senator durbin offered that limited its restrictions only to corporations however it had plenary authority to any political speech by a corporation now i'll point out paramount pictures as a corporation simon schuster is a corporation nbc is a corporation the naacp is a corporation planned parenthood is a corporation the brennan center is a corporation under the proposed amendment congress would have had blanket authority to regulate any and all political speech by any corporation in america was blatantly unconstitutional and every single democrat voted for it when it was voted on the floor there was a time by the way previously when democrats tried to repeal the first amendment to the constitution the free speech protections there were a handful of lions of the senate that spoke out against it russ feingold courageously spoke out against ted kennedy gave a floor speech saying we haven't amended the bill of rights in over 200 years and now is no time to start i gave a floor speech with a picture of ted kennedy behind me nearly scared my father to death when he saw me on tv with ted kennedy behind me but i pleaded is there not one ted kennedy on the democratic side who believes in free speech there wasn't a single one unfortunately with this bill that is combined by the recent willingness of the left to engage in threats of violence and intimidation against speech that we they don't like we saw that with anti-tifa and black lives matter riots all across this country with democrat politicians turning a blind eye that culminated in the current vice president united states kamala harris raising money to bail out of jail violent rioters threatening fellow citizens we saw it just recently with a leak of a draft decision of the supreme court and then left-wing groups publishing the addresses of supreme court justices and violent rioters going to the homes of supreme court justices and the biden department of justice refusing to enforce federal criminal law that makes it a crime to protest at the home of a justice but our attorney general merrick garland refuses to enforce that law and the result of that as we saw just weeks ago a deranged man arrested for the attempted murder of justice brett kavanaugh that is truly a toxic stew of the current democrats unwillingness to protect free speech and willingness to engage in violence and threats of violence against their political enemies what does that mean for something like the disclose act what we saw in california in 2008 when there was a referendum on the ballot in support of traditional marriage and a majority of californians bright blue voted california support of traditional marriage and the names of those contributors were outed and left-wing groups published their home addresses and people got fired for their job for by the way contributing to what was then the political position of people like barack obama and hillary clinton and yet people got fired for their jobs to derry to speak out look the landmark case on this is naacp versus patterson in that case the state of alabama run by democrats wanted to target the people that were members of the naacp they wanted to go after them and persecute them sadly it was the democrats that founded the klan and they wanted to go after the naacp that case went to the supreme court in 1958 and the supreme court unanimously ruled that the naacp you couldn't force them to hand over their membership lists because it violates their their first amendment right to free association this disclose act is designed to target and harass speech that the left doesn't like it is blazingly unconstitutional i will mention something though to my democratic colleagues my times expired but i will say if you want to see more disclosure and if you think the current system is idiotic and i think the current system of super pacs is idiotic every year in congress i've introduced legislation called the super pac elimination act it would do two very simple things it would number one allow unlimited individual contributions to campaigns not corporations not unions individuals and number two it would require immediate 24-hour disclosure of any contributions it doesn't ban super pacs but as a practical matter they would fade away because every candidate would rather control their own message rather than some other group and yet i've yet to get a democrat willing to support it i want to ask i apologize one question if i could ask mr weiner the brennan center supports transparency and disclosure over the over the existence of the brennan center how much money has been given to the brennan center specifically by george soros senator i don't know how much money specifically but i will say that will you answer it for what i ask you in writing senator will be happy to respond but i just want an answer i will happily acknowledge that open society foundation is a brennan center donor and we are proud that they have donated but will you answer that will you answer the question or give me a lawyerly dodge because we both know how to do both of those senator will we happy to respond to a request thank you

Channel: Forbes Breaking News

Views: 509,615

Keywords: Sen. Ted Cruz, free speech, Senate

Id: Fh0ioMAiVoE

Length: 7min 47sec (467 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 24 2022