JUST IN: Ted Cruz GRILLS Vanita Gupta on Equality Act, religious liberty

senator cruz thank you mr chairman welcome i think one of the worst legacies of the obama presidency was the politicization of the department of justice during the eight years of the obama biden presidency the department of justice has a long history of being apolitical of exercising fidelity to law of not being used as a partisan weapon to target the enemies of whichever administration is in power the obama biden administration corrupted that process and we are still dealing with the consequences i believe appointees the department of justice should have a demonstrated record of fidelity to law and impartiality and ability to defend the rule of law ms gupta as i look at your record your record is one of an extreme partisan advocate your record is an ideologue now there's a role in our democratic and political process for ideologues for people that are extreme radical advocates that role i believe is not being the number three lawyer at the department of justice in charge of the impartial and fair administration of justice as i look at your record on every single issue the positions you've advocated for are on the extreme left and you've demonstrated an intolerance for and hostility to anyone that disagrees with the extreme left political positions on the issue of abortion is there any restriction whatsoever on an abortion that you believe is permissible senator first let me begin by saying i'm sorry that you feel that way as a lifelong civil rights advocate my duty has been to enforce the constitution not enforce anyone's political agenda or partisan agenda i have apologized today for some of the harsh rhetoric that i've used and i mean that uh and i'm not focusing on your college years i'm focusing on as an adult and practicing lawyer but let's just start with a substantive question is there any is it permissible for the government to prohibit partial birth abortion yes or no senator my duty if confirmed will be to federal laws and the constitution roe versus wade is established precedent and has been reaffirmed numerous times by the courts and my duty will be to enforce the federal laws and the constitution okay so you're declining to answer that how about the heller decision which upheld the individual right to keep and bear arms a fundamental right in the bill of rights was heller rightly decided senator heller is law of the land and i will enforce heller um as so you're not answering that either all right let's let's shift to a different topic religious liberty you've demonstrated significant hostility to religious liberty you have defended the obama administration's targeting and persecuting of the little sisters of the poor not too long ago religious liberty was a bipartisan commitment in congress the religious freedom restoration act was introduced by then representative chuck schumer it passed the house unanimously it passed the senate 97-3 and was signed into law by president clinton now today today's democratic party has abandoned religious liberty indeed the equality act of which you are a vocal supporter that has now come out of the house of representatives is a radical piece of legislation that among other things explicitly repeals significant aspects of the religious freedom restoration act to take away our religious liberties you have been a vocal defender of the equality act do you agree with the provisions stripping rifra's religious liberty protections from americans senator let me begin by saying that religious liberty is uh is incredibly important to me i am a person of faith my family is one of deep and abiding faith and this country's founding freedom was rooted in religious liberty i have defended religious freedom throughout my career when i was at the justice department i launched an interagency effort to protect religion i appreciate that but our time is senators it's only fair to allow her to complete her answer mr chairman i understand that she has things she wants to say but i asked if she supports the repeal of refra that that's that's a that's not the senator if you want to make a speech you may make a speech i'm asking a question i'm asking a question and she's loving her speech and i understand that you support her nomination so you're giving a speech too but but i'm asking a question i'm asking you to allow her to answer she was not answering she's she's welcome to answer the question the question is do you support the equality acts repealing riffer's protection of religious liberty for americans senator i support rifra i have enforced provisions of refra and the justice department must enforce the law uh the justice department enforces religious liberty and protects it it also enforces our nation's anti-discrimination laws do you support the equalities act's repeal of rifra's religious liberty protections senator if confirmed as associate attorney general my duty will be to enforce laws to protect religious liberty and the anti-discrimination laws that the justice department okay so you're declining to answer that as well let's move to another topic which is school choice your tenure at the department of justice demonstrated a radical hostility to school choice such the department of justice intervened in a case trying to kill a louisiana school choice program there even though many african-american parents strongly supported the the program the black alliance for educational options was fighting on the other side the the federal court at issue there specifically reprimanded the department of justice under your leadership for ineffective lawyering that's a quote and for attempting to quote circumvent the ordinary litigation process in order to regulate the school choice program without any legal judgment against the state do you regret using the department of justice to fight against the school choice program that was providing hope and opportunity to low-income minority kids in louisiana senator i have dedicated my life to fighting for opportunity for low-income uh children of all communities in in having educational opportunity i again as i said my duty if i am confirmed as associate attorney general will be to enforce the law and constitution and i have to look at the facts and laws of okay you're still not answering the question that that's been let's let's move to another one at the beginning of this hearing chairman durbin asked you about abolishing the police and you said i do not support defunding the police which is clearly the right political answer seeking to get confirmed i would note that just a few months ago last year in written correspondence with the senate of the united states you encouraged congress to quote re-examine federal spending priorities and shrink the footprint of the police and criminal legal system in this country and you also encouraged reallocating resources and stated quote some people call it defunding the police other people call it divest invest but whatever you call it if you care about mass incarceration you have to care about skewed funding priorities these were not college writings this was about eight months ago that you wrote this to the senate by any measure that's advocating defunding the police and yet today you're telling this committee you don't support that senator um with respectfully i disagree with with how you're characterizing that i don't support defunding the police i've been very clear about that i i have enjoyed if if i may sorry were the quotes i read inaccurate well let me if i if i may can i tell you what i th those statements reflect conversations that i've had with sheriffs around the country police officers police chiefs civil rights activists who have who have been talking to me for years long before as i said at the events of of this summer about the fact that we have placed so many of our nation's social problems at the feet of police and we have defunded mental health services we have defunded substance use services we have expected law enforcement to be the only go-to solution we've given in many communities only one response available for when we have family members in crisis or with drug addictions and this is an issue where it is one that i think really unifies law enforcement and civil rights advocates and community leaders who are seeking alternatives to incarceration for addressing some of these very challenging questions and sheriffs who are frankly fed up with the fact that their jails are 70 filled with people who are suffering from mental illness with all due respect i don't believe you have been speaking to sheriffs advocating for defunding the police and i've spoken to far too many sheriffs to find that credible thank you senator klobuchar

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Keywords: Sen. Ted Cruz, Vanita Gupta, Equality Act

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Length: 9min 6sec (546 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 09 2021