Issue Position: Our Standard: The Constitution

Issue Position

Ted Cruz has spent a lifetime fighting to defend the Constitution -- our nation's founding document and the supreme law of the land -- which was crafted by our founding fathers to act as chains to bind the mischief of government and to protect the liberties endowed to us by our Creator.

Religious Liberty

* Defended Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties against Obamacare's contraception mandate.
* Led the way on several cases including a U.S. Supreme Court case that preserved the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.
* Successfully defended the words "under God" in the Texas Pledge of Allegiance and Texas schools' moment of silence law in federal district court.
* Galvanized national support for Houston pastors who had been subpoenaed by the City of Houston to provide the content of their sermons forcing the City to back down.
* Supported the right of students to display banners containing religious content at school sporting events.
* Successfully defended the constitutionality of the Texas Ten Commandments monument, winning a 5-4 landmark decision before the U.S. Supreme Court, setting an important national precedent for the right to display similar monuments.
* Fought to help the Boy Scouts of America to reverse a district court ruling barring them from leasing a public park.

Second Amendment

* Played a crucial role in preventing federal legislation to restrict the Second Amendment rights of Americans.
* Authored legislation to strengthen the Second Amendment rights of Americans by allowing interstate firearms sales.
* Led 31 states in District of Columbia v. Heller where the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a ban on firearms in a 5-4 landmark decision.
* Honored by the National Rifle Association with a 2008 resolution for his leadership in the Heller case, which noted that his "efforts made this victory for the American people possible."
* Awarded the NRA's 2010 Carter-Knight Freedom Fund, which "rewards exemplary activities in the support and protection of the right to Keep and Bear Arms" for his work in the Heller and McDonald cases.
* Argued against unreasonable and burdensome gun restrictions before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
* Recognized by NRA executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre who observed, "Ted Cruz is one of our nation's leading defenders of the Second Amendment. For over a decade, Ted has fought tirelessly to defend our constitutional right to keep and bear arms, and his leadership was absolutely critical to our major victories before the U.S. Supreme Court."

U.S. Sovereignty

* Fought and won a landmark ruling for U.S. sovereignty in Medellin v. Texas at the U.S. Supreme Court against 90 foreign nations and the President to ensure the supremacy of U.S. legal system against encroachment by international treaties and rulings of the "World Court."
* Cosponsored a resolution urging the president not to sign the UN Arms Treaty, which would have subordinated the Second Amendments rights of American citizens to global interests.

Government Overreach

* Called for a special prosecutor to investigate the targeting of conservatives by the IRS.

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