ABC News(WASHINGTON) — Texas Senator Ted Cruz on Friday wrote an op-ed for the National Review Online stating his support for judicial retention elections that would require supreme court justices to win an election every eight years to retain their seats.
The op-ed, written in response to the court’s decision to strike down state bans on marriage equality, called that decision “judicial activist” and “lawless.”
“Not only are the Court’s opinions untethered from reason and logic, they are also alien to our constitutional system of limited and divided government,” Cruz wrote. “By redefining the meaning of common words, and redesigning the most basic human institutions, this Court has crossed from the realm of activism into the arena of oligarchy.”
After the Supreme Court decided to allow Obamacare subsidies and prohibit the bans on same-sex marriage within the same week, Cruz proposed judicial retention elections. Such votes, he says, “have worked in states across America.”
Under Cruz’ proposal, justices would be required to go through an election every every eight years, beginning with the second national election after their appointment to the nation’s highest court.
“Sadly,” Cruz wrote, “the Court’s hubris and thirst for power have reached unprecedented levels.”
“That calls for meaningful action, lest Congress be guilty of acquiescing to this assault on the rule of law,” he added.
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