Ted Cruz and the Constitutional Right to be Stupid

("Partisan Politics and Gun Violence")

He has a wonderful pedigree: Princeton undergraduate, Harvard law, clerkship for a Supreme Court justice, youngest solicitor general in his state and US Senator. It only demonstrates that looks, at least as to Ted Cruz, can be deceiving.

In his sneering attack on Diane Feinstein, Mr. Cruz revealed his lack of understanding of the limits of constitutional protections.  No Mr. Cruz, the First Amendment does not demand that all words be protected. We have civil penalties for libel and slander. Further, as was pointed out to Mr. Cruz, there are criminal sanctions for uttering terroristic threats like shouting fire in a theater, even as he would seemingly find it reasonable to permit loaded weapons into that theater.

 It is the duty and responsibility of those who govern to fashion laws assuring that abuses of the rights afforded to us will not be tolerated.  Later this year will mark a half century since our President was gunned down and since then no one, whether civil rights leader or the youngest of our children, has been immune from violent attack. Still, many like Mr. Cruz find Second Amendment protections virtually unassailable and limitless.

For a seemingly bright young man, Mr. Cruz has in his short time in the Senate proven on more than one occasion that he can say some pretty stupid things.  And yes, Mr. Cruz you have an absolute First Amendment right to be stupid.