WASHINGTON, D.C., October 13, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas used his time during Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings to highlight the confirmation’s importance for religious liberty, and to shame Congressional Democrats for their efforts to “erase” it.
“Religious liberty cases over and over again have been decided 5-4,” Cruz noted, with disputes ranging from crosses and Ten Commandments on public property to the forced subsidizing of abortion-inducing drugs and other contraceptives.
Cruz invoked the Little Sisters of the Poor, the Catholic religious community which, in his words, “devote their lives to caring for the sick, caring for the needy, caring for the elderly.” The Obama administration infamously attempted to force the Little Sisters to fund contraception under Obamacare.
Cruz called it “truly a stunning situation when you have the federal government litigating against nuns.”
The Supreme Court struck a blow against the previous administration’s efforts with its 2014 Hobby Lobby decision, which Cruz said “reflected the traditions of our country that you can live according to your faith without the government trampling on it.”
“You know what this body did, I’m sorry to say?” he continued. “Senate Democrats introduced legislation to gut the Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” supported by “every Senate Democrat” despite “overwhelming” bipartisan support for the Clinton-era law.
“Joe Biden has already pledged that if he is elected he plans to initiate again the attack on the Little Sisters of the Poor,” Cruz noted.
Shifting gears, Cruz noted that Pope Francis enjoys a measure of popularity among secular media for his public statements on issues such as immigration and the environment.
“The press is happy to amplify those views,” he noted, but “somehow missing from that amplification is that when the Pope came to the United States, in Washington he went and visited the Little Sisters of the Poor. He went to their home in DC and the Vatican explained that he did so because he wanted to highlight their cause: that the federal government shouldn’t be persecuting nuns.”
“That’s what’s at stake in these nominations,” Cruz declared. “That’s why their base is so angry at your nomination, Judge Barrett, because they don’t believe you are going to join the radical efforts to erase those fundamental rights from the Bill of Rights.”