By — Hannah Grabenstein Hannah Grabenstein Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-cruz-and-booker-accuse-each-other-of-lying-and-hypocrisy-on-judges-safety Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter WATCH: Cruz and Booker accuse each other of lying and hypocrisy on judges’ safety Politics Jun 4, 2025 1:07 PM EDT Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Cory Booker, D-NJ, exchanged a fiery argument at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing Tuesday about district judges. WATCH: Law professor addresses unprecedented nature of judicial attacks under Trump administration Cruz and Booker argued for about 9 minutes at the top of the hearing. Booker initially said he took fault with Cruz’s claim that no Democrats condemned attacks on federal judges, noting that Congress passed a bipartisan law to increase the security for Supreme Court justices. Cruz responded that Department of Justice under the Biden administration didn’t arrest anyone for protesting outside of Supreme Court justices’ houses and claimed no Senate Democrats pressed former Attorney General Merrick Garland to make any arrests. But Booker fired back, saying Cruz was shifting his argument. “You said we were silent after people’s houses were protested. That is a patent lie, sir. We were not silent. We took action,” Booker said. The two continued, accusing each other of hypocrisy, before Cruz turned to introduce the committee’s witnesses. We're not going anywhere. Stand up for truly independent, trusted news that you can count on! Donate now By — Hannah Grabenstein Hannah Grabenstein @hgrabenstein
Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Cory Booker, D-NJ, exchanged a fiery argument at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing Tuesday about district judges. WATCH: Law professor addresses unprecedented nature of judicial attacks under Trump administration Cruz and Booker argued for about 9 minutes at the top of the hearing. Booker initially said he took fault with Cruz’s claim that no Democrats condemned attacks on federal judges, noting that Congress passed a bipartisan law to increase the security for Supreme Court justices. Cruz responded that Department of Justice under the Biden administration didn’t arrest anyone for protesting outside of Supreme Court justices’ houses and claimed no Senate Democrats pressed former Attorney General Merrick Garland to make any arrests. But Booker fired back, saying Cruz was shifting his argument. “You said we were silent after people’s houses were protested. That is a patent lie, sir. We were not silent. We took action,” Booker said. The two continued, accusing each other of hypocrisy, before Cruz turned to introduce the committee’s witnesses. We're not going anywhere. Stand up for truly independent, trusted news that you can count on! Donate now