Cruz: Supreme Court justices should face elections

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a 2016 contender, is calling for Supreme Court justices to face elections every eight years, to hold them accountable after rulings he said proved the “lawlessness” of the court.

“The decisions that have deformed out constitutional order and have debased our culture are but symptoms of the disease of liberal judicial activism that has infected our judiciary,” he said in a piece published Friday in National Review.

“A remedy is needed that will restore health to the sick man in our constitutional system,” he continued. “Rendering the Justices directly accountable to the people would provide such a remedy.”

{mosads}Cruz noted that 20 states hold “judicial retention elections” to force judges to be accountable to the public and highlighted Iowa, where voters expelled three judges that “invented a constitutional right to same-sex marriage.”

The freshman senator and presidential hopeful strongly disagreed with both of the high court’s major decisions this week — one recognizing same-sex marriage across the country and one upholding ObamaCare subsides, preserving the health law.

In an interview with conservative commentator Sean Hannity that aired shortly before his op-ed was published, Cruz lamented those decisions, calling it “some of the darkest 24 hours in our nation’s history.” 

Cruz’s plan, outlined in the opinion piece, would put justices up for re-confirmation elections every eight years.

If the majority of American citizens and a majority of voters in more than half of the states vote against a judge, the judge would be removed and disqualified from ever serving again on the Supreme Court.

“As a constitutional conservative, I do not make this proposal lightly,” said Cruz, a former clerk to then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

“Sadly, the Court’s hubris and thirst for power have reached unprecedented levels,” he added.

“And that calls for meaningful action, lest Congress be guilty of acquiescing to this assault on the rule of law.”