Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) sparred with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) during a heated spat on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
Both senators were taking part in the third day of confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, and things got contentious when Durbin — who Cruz said had taken up some of his time with interruptions — attempted to move on before Cruz got an answer from Judge Jackson to a question about the sentence she imposed in a child pornography case.
Cruz was just nearing the end of his scheduled time — and Durbin moved to cut him off — but the Texas Senator objected, claiming that Durbin had already taken up some of his time with interruptions.
“You’ve been given extra time. You usually ask for it, you’re given it,” Durbin pushed back.
“Okay, I know you want to interrupt. I know you don’t like this line of questions —” Cruz continued.
“I just want you to play by the rules,” Durbin said.
“I know you like to interrupt, but you’ve consumed a substantial question — time of my questioning,” Cruz continued. “I’m going to ask my questions and you can, if you want to testify, you’re welcome to.”
Cruz then turned back to Judge Jackson, laying out some of the details of a specific child pornography case in which Jackson had imposed the sentence.
“In the Stewart case, you said from the bench, ‘Thus, although this is not necessarily an atypical case, your child pornography possession crime was egregious in the court’s view,’” Cruz quoted, adding, “Okay, so this is a bad one. If you’re actually sentencing defendants, you said this was egregious. What did you sentence Stewart for? The guidelines said 97-121 months. Prosecutors said 97 months. You said, ‘It’s egregious,’ 6,700 images, and you come in at 57 months.”
Durbin interrupted again, saying that Cruz was over his allotted time and turning to recognize Senator Chris Coons (D-DE).
Watch:
Cruz continued to talk over Durbin, saying that he’d take an answer from Jackson on any of the cases he’d asked about, he has just held up that specific one as an example.
“You’re not recognized, Senator,” Durbin said.
“Do you not want her to answer that question?” Cruz asked Durbin.
“You wouldn’t allow her anyway,” Durbin grumbled.
This is an excerpt from The Daily Wire.
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