Ted Cruz Hates Due Process

[Kamaji]

Ted Cruz Hates Due Process

By smearing public defenders, the Texas senator shows what he thinks of constitutional rights.

C.J. CIARAMELLA
4.5.2022

During his Fox News appearance on Sunday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R–Texas) said that Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson and other public defenders root for criminals because "their heart is with the murderers."

https://twitter.com/American_Bridge/status/1511058075028971521

"She came out of law school, and she clerked for Justice Breyer on the Supreme Court. And she became a federal public defender," Cruz said. "And you and I have both known public defenders. People go and do that because their heart is with criminal defendants. Their heart is with the murderers, the criminals, and that that's who they're rooting for. A lot of the same reasons people go and become prosecutors—because they want to lock up bad guys—public defenders often have a natural inclination in the direction of the criminal. And I gotta say that inclination was not just while she was a public defender, but she carried it onto the bench."

Our adversarial system of justice depends on defense attorneys making the government prove its case and meet a high burden of evidence. The Sixth Amendment guarantees the right to counsel to make sure everyone—the unpopular, the poor, and yes, even the guilty—has the benefit of a dogged defense against the government's power to relieve them of their liberty and property.

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Source:  https://reason.com/2022/04/05/ted-cruz-hates-due-process/

[Kamaji]

There are lots of good things about Cruz, but on this point he is totally mistaken.

I am sure that there are sleazy, nasty, despicable defense attorneys, just as I'm equally sure that there are sleazy, nasty, despicable prosecutors, but - IMHO - the only lawyers who, as a group, still really deserve the honorific "profession" are defense attorneys.

Whatever their motivations, lawyers who become prosecutors always bear at least some of the personality defect that, if given in to, causes them to become fascists.  On the other hand, the defense lawyer is often the only person standing between you and a lifetime of hurt at the hands of a vindictive or misguided government.  And it can be a very lonely, stressful, monetarily unrewarding stand as well - as Cruz' comments make clear.

So, Cruz should STFU and apologize to the defense bar for his comments.

[Cyber Liberty]

There are lots of good things about Cruz, but on this point he is totally mistaken.

I am sure that there are sleazy, nasty, despicable defense attorneys, just as I'm equally sure that there are sleazy, nasty, despicable prosecutors, but - IMHO - the only lawyers who, as a group, still really deserve the honorific "profession" are defense attorneys.

Whatever their motivations, lawyers who become prosecutors always bear at least some of the personality defect that, if given in to, causes them to become fascists.  On the other hand, the defense lawyer is often the only person standing between you and a lifetime of hurt at the hands of a vindictive or misguided government.  And it can be a very lonely, stressful, monetarily unrewarding stand as well - as Cruz' comments make clear.

So, Cruz should STFU and apologize to the defense bar for his comments.

Agreed.  Attorneys don't have to agree with their defendant's actions in order to put on an effective case.  Just because an Attorney chooses to represent a client doesn't mean they're as foul-hearted as that client.  Everybody deserves a proper defense, which cannot be obtained by using a Public Defender.

[catfish1957]

Public defenders dig out of that hole by becoming competent, innovative purveyors of loopholes and negotiation.  We often don't like the results, but that is their function in life.

Kind of hard to slam a profession who operates that way by design.

[catfish1957]

I'm equally sure that there are sleazy, nasty, despicable prosecutors,

The prosecutor in the Kyle Rittenhouse case was the poster boy for that category.

[Kamaji]

The prosecutor in the Kyle Rittenhouse case was the poster boy for that category.

To be perfectly honest, I think that sleazeballs are overweighted in the prosecutors section of the bar, even for lawyers as a whole.

[Kamaji]

Public defenders dig out of that hole by becoming competent, innovative purveyors of loopholes and negotiation.  We often don't like the results, but that is their function in life.

Kind of hard to slam a profession who operates that way by design.

Their function is to hold the government's feet to the fire, as and when necessary, and to assist their clients in making an informed decision based on the facts known to the defendant.  Sometimes that includes plea negotiations.  However, since it takes two to tango, and the government has substantially greater resources than the lone defendant, the existence of plea negotiating as a structural aspect is due to prosecutorial preferences, not defense attorney machinations.

[catfish1957]

But back to Cruz, for a guy who used to seem to nail it a 100% in the past, he has this strange comment and calling the J6 protest a terrorist attack.

I think the place is eating on his brain.

[Hoodat]

Where is the part where Cruz opposes due process?

[catfish1957]

Where is the part where Cruz opposes due process?

I saw it less of not opposing due process, but more of (sic.) morally aligning with the people they represent.

I think that is more of what the hub Bub is. Watch the clip.

[Kamaji]

Where is the part where Cruz opposes due process?

The title is a bit hyperbolic; but due process does require that an accused be given the ability to have an attorney for his defence, and by maligning defense attorneys as nothing but sleazeballs who are in favor of the criminals, Cruz slights the demands of due process.

[Cyber Liberty]

Where is the part where Cruz opposes due process?

Where he says some defendants are so heinous they don't deserve a defense?

Says Cruz:

People go and do that [become defenders] because their heart is with criminal defendants. Their heart is with the murderers, the criminals, and that that's who they're rooting for.

Due process requires vigorous debate between knowledgeable Counsel.

[Hoodat]

Where he says some defendants are so heinous they don't deserve a defense?

That does seem to be a tad over the line.

[catfish1957]

Where he says some defendants are so heinous they don't deserve a defense?

Says Cruz:

Due process requires vigorous debate between knowledgeable Counsel.

I thought the part where Cruz in uncertain words calls PD's as sleazy as their clients, was the more heinous comment.

I know he gets a lot of chatter around here and elsewhere around SCOTUS membership.  No doubt he will have to explain this little ditty in his hearing.

[Cyber Liberty]

I thought the part where Cruz in uncertain words calls PD's as sleazy as their clients, was the more heinous comment.

I know he gets a lot of chatter around here and elsewhere around SCOTUS membership.  No doubt he will have to explain this little ditty in his hearing.

He must not have spent much time in criminal courts.  Judges that come from the PD's office know that the defendants are all liars while Judges from DAs know it's the police who lie.  The opposite of what Cruz thinks he knows.

[Smokin Joe]

There are lots of good things about Cruz, but on this point he is totally mistaken.

I am sure that there are sleazy, nasty, despicable defense attorneys, just as I'm equally sure that there are sleazy, nasty, despicable prosecutors, but - IMHO - the only lawyers who, as a group, still really deserve the honorific "profession" are defense attorneys.

Whatever their motivations, lawyers who become prosecutors always bear at least some of the personality defect that, if given in to, causes them to become fascists.  On the other hand, the defense lawyer is often the only person standing between you and a lifetime of hurt at the hands of a vindictive or misguided government.  And it can be a very lonely, stressful, monetarily unrewarding stand as well - as Cruz' comments make clear.

So, Cruz should STFU and apologize to the defense bar for his comments.

The really sleazy defense attorneys are making big bucks if they are any good at it.

'Public Defender' seems more like an entry level position with a guaranteed client base, who have to pay up if they lose the case, and who are frequently counseled to plea bargain rather than seek exoneration (even if innocent).