Ted Cruz WSJ Op-Ed: Let the People Choose Scalia's Replacement Through the Voting Booth

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz believes the American people should decide who fills the vacancy left by the late-Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court by-way of voting in the presidential general election, the GOP presidential hopeful wrote in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal Sunday evening.

According to Cruz, the extreme importance of this presidential election is highlighted by the implications that it will have for decades to come over the direction of the Supreme Court, and, therefore, the nation.

Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz speaks during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday. (Getty Images/Saul Loeb/AFP)

In the op-ed, Cruz explained the different points-of-view that Republicans and Democrats have of the Constitution and why this distinction is important.

"President Obama and Democrats favor justices who see the Constitution as a potter sees clay — something that can be molded to achieve their desired results," Cruz wrote. On the other hand, Cruz said that Republicans "believe the Constitution has a fixed meaning and a judge’s task is limited — to discover what that meaning is, not to make it up."

That idea of the Constitution being a "living document," changing as society changes, first arose under President Woodrow Wilson, Cruz explained. This idea allows judges to create new laws and rights that don't exist in the Constitution, he said, citing the "right to an abortion or to same-sex marriage."

The two jurists that Obama nominated to the court, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, both view the Constitution as a living document, Cruz went on to explain.

"Does anyone really believe that another Obama nominee would be different?" he wrote. "The stakes are too high to allow President Obama, in the waning months of his final term, to make a lifetime appointment that would reshape the Supreme Court for a generation."

That's why, Cruz argued, that it should be up to the voters to decide who fills the court's vacancy.

"Do the American people want a justice who adheres to the unchanging text, history and structure of the Constitution, or do they want a justice who thinks the Constitution should evolve with the personal beliefs of unelected lawyers?" he asked rhetorically.

Cruz concluded the op-ed by reaffirming his position on the issue: He will filibuster any attempt by Obama and Senate Democrats to place a liberal judge on the bench.

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