Texas Sen. Ted Cruz says 1982 ruling on immigrant education wrong

Dallas Morning News ^ | 09 March 2015 11:27 PM | TODD J. GILLMAN

[SoConPubbie]

WASHINGTON — Sen. Ted Cruz said Monday that the Supreme Court probably made the wrong decision in 1982 when it ruled that public schools must provide free education to children in the country illegally.

“There’s a strong argument to say that it was [a mistake],” Cruz told a conservative radio host in Des Moines during a campaign visit to Iowa.

WHO-AM host Jan Mickelson, an immigration hard-liner, peppered Cruz with questions about Plyler vs. Doe, a Texas case in which the justices ruled, 5-4, that states must provide public education for students in the country illegally. Jim Plyler was the school superintendent in Tyler, and Doe referred to families living in Tyler when Texas cut funding for students in the country illegally.

Mickelson argued that states should now defy the court and ignore the precedent. Cruz, a top student at Harvard Law School and former clerk to Chief Justice William Rehnquist, resisted that approach.

“Plyler vs. Doe as a legal matter is certainly binding Supreme Court precedent,” he said, adding that even when cases are settled imperfectly, “there is value in legal precedent.”

But he said that in his view, the high court was on shaky constitutional ground in forcing states to educate children in the country illegally.

“There is a very strong argument that the 14th Amendment doesn’t require that,” Cruz said.

[SoConPubbie]

	"If we must have an enemy at the head of Government, let it be one whom we can oppose, and for whom we are not responsible, who will not involve our party in the disgrace of his foolish and bad measures." - Alexander Hamilton "We don't intend to turn the Republican Party over to the traitors in the battle just ended. We will have no more of those candidates who are pledged to the same goals as our opposition and who seek our support. Turning the Party over to the so-called moderates wouldn’t make any sense at all." -- President Ronald Reagan "A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice." - Thomas Paine 1792 "It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men." - Samuel Adams "If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen." - Samuel Adams

[Gaffer]

As far as I’m concerned, he just keeps getting better and better.

[lormand]

I voted for Ted Cruz 3 times

Thank me!

[SoConPubbie]

As far as I’m concerned, he just keeps getting better and better.

He is the CONSISTENT Conservative!

[goodnesswins]

TRUTH!!!!!!!

[Georgia Girl 2]

I totally agree with Ted. This ruling needs to be reversed.

[BlackAdderess]

You can bet your butt though that the Roberts court is the wrong one to relitigate this.

[C. Edmund Wright]

As far as I’m concerned, he just keeps getting better and better.

as I have assured some people in the Cruz operation - his message WILL WIN OUT in the end - because it's the right message. I suspect he'll get "better and better" to a whole lot of folks.....

[Gaffer]

Our God given rights were affirmed by a Constitution for which countless lives were given - our fore bearers.

The only lives given by these invaders’ fore bearers spoke Spanish and many likely at the Alamo massacring Texans.

[DavidLSpud]

I pray to Jehovah God that TED Cruz serves as President of the United States for 8 years and then is appointed to serve the rest of a long life on the U.S. Supreme Court.

[sickoflibs]

RE:”Plyler vs. Doe as a legal matter is certainly binding Supreme Court precedent,” he said, adding that even when cases are settled imperfectly, “there is value in legal precedent.”

This is a bit contrary to those here who claim the court's ruling is meaningless as long was we think its unconstitutional,

I got a few lectures on that one here over the years.

[Jane Long]

That’s a great prayer!

[Jane Long]

I voted for my Sen Ted Cruz, as well. You’re welcome ;-)

[ElectionInspector]

TED Cruz serves as President of the United States for 8 years and then is appointed to serve the rest of a long life on the U.S. Supreme Court.

AMEN Brother! A perfect plan for Ted’s future... your lips to God’s ears...

ymmv

[WayneS]

And he’s right!

[moehoward]

"“Plyler vs. Doe becomes a lot less relevant if you don’t have 12 million people living here illegally because we’re securing the borders,” he said."

Obviously true. IIRC, somewhere in the footnotes, the ruling WAS based on a lack of federal enforcement.

[Carry_Okie]

WASHINGTON — Sen. Ted Cruz said Monday that the Supreme Court probably made the wrong decision in 1982 when it ruled that public schools must provide free education to children in the country illegally.

Correct. First: The Federal government has no authority over the education of anyone, therefore the SCOTUS has no jurisdiction on the issue. Second: The SCOTUS violated the scope of enumerated powers given to Congress, not the courts. So the Congress could have authored no such law for the SCOTUS to adjudicate. Third: This was not an interstate transaction such that the question should have come to the Federal courts at all. IOW, this ruling was so far from legal as to be laughable.

[bonehead4freedom]

Hey GOPe this is the guy who can both win and govern! Unless you plan to throw another election to the democrats again!

[stephenjohnbanker]

Well stated.

BUMP

[Defiant]

One of the worst decisions in history, it reads like legislative justification for a policy. It led directly to the explosion of illegal immigration, as they could now bring their kids and the schools had to take them. What used to be seasonal labor and young men sending money home became entire families. California became mexiFornica within 12 years.