Ted Cruz blasts PolitiFact as 'lying liars' for Supreme Court fact-check

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Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, took PolitiFact to task on Tuesday for rating "False" his claim that Republicans did not try to "rig the game" in the Supreme Court, which he has accused Democrats of doing by seeking to expanding its size to 13.

"Lying liars lie & that's what Politi'fact' does every day," Cruz tweeted.

"You didn't see Republicans when we had control of the Senate try to rig the game," Cruz is quoted as saying on April 22. "You didn't see us try to pack the court."

In the fact check, PolitiFact concluded that Cruz's claim was "false" because Republicans blocked former President Obama's Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland in 2016 following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, and then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell "raced" to get Amy Coney Barrett confirmed before the 2020 election. Thus, PolitiFact says that Republicans "were able to exercise their power in ways that benefited their party’s goals."

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"We get it. You hate conservatives and will claim left-wing propaganda are facts because that's what you do," Newsbusters managing editor Curtis Houck tweeted in Cruz's defense. He added that what PolitiFact put out was not a "fact check," but "leftist propaganda."

"Absolutely nothing was rigged by Republicans. Presidents nominate judges. The Senate gives or withholds advice and consent. Those are the rules and Republicans followed them," Cruz spokesman Steve Guest told PolitiFact.

Other critics on social media came to Cruz's defense to note that all he and Republicans did was fill seats, not add them as Democrats have been discussing. 

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Democrats have begun to make congressional moves to expand the Supreme Court in recent weeks. On April 15, legislators led by Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., announced the Judiciary Act of 2021, which calls for expanding it from nine to 13 justices.

President Biden recently launched a commission to study reforms to the Court, including possible recommendations of expansion. The current size of the court was set by the Judiciary Act of 1869.

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Liberal lawmakers have increased their calls for expanding the Supreme Court since former President Donald Trump had all three of his nominations confirmed: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. Those confirmations gave the court its current 6-3 conservative majority.