YOU’RE ONE TO TALK: Cruz: President Trump would appoint liberals to the Supreme Court. [archive]

Trump shot back that Cruz “wanted John Roberts on the Supreme Court,” noting that the chief justice twice voted in favor of upholding President Obama’s namesake healthcare law, which is unpopular on the right.

“I did not nominate John Roberts, I would not nominate John Roberts,” Cruz retorted before suggesting that Trump was acting childish by interrupting him.

Of course Cruz did not nominate John Roberts, because Cruz wasn’t president at the time. And Cruz will not nominate John Roberts, because Roberts is already on the Supreme Court. But Trump is right that Cruz wanted Roberts on the Supreme Court.

See Ted Cruz in National Review, July 20, 2005: “The president announced his intention to nominate John Roberts to be a Supreme Court justice. . . . The Senate should confirm him swiftly.” [archive]

Judge Roberts is brilliant. A summa cum laude Harvard graduate, Roberts began by clerking for two giants of the bench, Judge Henry Friendly, and Chief Justice Rehnquist. . . .

In November of 2000, I had spent the past year and half as domestic-policy adviser on the Bush campaign, and was part of the team assembling the lawyers to help litigate Bush v. Gore. We needed the very best lawyers in the country, and I called John and asked him to help. Within hours, he was on a plane to Florida. . . .

Judge Roberts is a lawyers’ lawyer. And that matters immensely, especially for the U.S. Supreme Court. . . .

John Roberts is undoubtedly a principled conservative . . .

He is a mainstream judge, respected across the ideological spectrum. Thus, he’s earned praise from liberal icons such as Harvard Law Professor Larry Tribe, and Chicago Law Professor Cass Sunstein . . .

The Senate should confirm him swiftly.