Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said Wednesday on MSNBC that he doesn't necessarily want to advocate for judicial retention elections, but after the Supreme Court's recent decisions on Obamacare and gay marriage, he believes it is a necessity.
"I am reluctant to call for retention elections - it makes me sad," Cruz, a 2016 Republican presidential contender, told MSNBC's Chris Matthews during an interview on "Hardball" Wednesday night.
Following the two controversial Supreme Court decisions in June, Cruz proposed a constitutional amendment that would subject Supreme Court justices to periodic judicial elections, The Washington Post reported.
"I have done it because I believe that a majority of the justices are not honoring their judicial oaths," Cruz told Matthews.
Matthews countered, "Is that the solution? Elections?"
"Look, if unelected judges are going to seize every major policy issue in this country - you know, there was a time..." Cruz said before being cut off by Matthews.
"They seized the presidency in 2000. You did not complain!" Matthews said. "The Supreme Court said no to the state of Florida: 'You can't recount, even though it's a close election, you are not allowed to recount. We're giving this to our guy, 5-4 Republican vote in the Supreme Court.' If there was ever a case of partisanship or ideology getting out of hand, it was 2000, and you loved it."
Cruz continued: "Chris, those are great talking points ... How many times did they count the ballots in Florida?"
"Four," Matthews said, to which Cruz asked, "How many times did Bush win?"
"Four times," Matthews responded. "They wanted to try it one more time. Aren't states allowed to do that?!"
A skeptical Cruz countered, "The Democrats' strategy was, 'We're going to keep counting and counting and counting and counting, and eventually maybe enough people would cheat and somehow our guy will win.'"
Matthews explained that he thinks it is a case of states' rights, "which you usually champion," and equal protection.
"I describe how the first time the Supreme Court unanimously vacated what the Florida Supreme Court did," Cruz said. "When it came down, you know what the Florida Supreme Court did? It told the U.S. Supreme Court 'go jump in a lake,' didn't even cite its opinion. ... It was partisan defiance of the court, and frankly, what the Florida Supreme Court did in the Bush versus Gore recount is the same thing the U.S. Supreme Court did with Obamacare and marriage."
RealClearPolitics' average of polling data for the 2016 GOP contenders shows Cruz is currently stuck in the middle of the pack with an average of four percent support, compared to front-runner former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who has an average of 16.3 percent support.
