The nation’s oldest collegiate debate and political union voted to strip U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of its highest honor for his role in trying to overturn the November presidential election.
Princeton University’s American Whig-Cliosophic Society voted to rescind the James Madison Award for Distinguished Public Service awarded to Cruz, a member of the Class of 1992.
It was the first time that the society voted to take back the award, according to the Daily Princetonian, which first reported the decision.
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The final decision on whether to revoke the award rests with the society’s board of trustees, the newspaper said.
The Texas Republican was one of a long list of distinguished men and women who have won the award since it was established in 1960. Other included U.S. Chief Justice Earl Warren, Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, and Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. In 2020, Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., a 1986 graduate of Princeton, became the first African-American recipient of the award.
Cruz spokeswoman Erin Perrine declined comment.
In December, Cruz offered to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court a lawsuit brought by Texas and 17 other GOP-run states to throw out millions of ballots in four battleground states that Joe Biden carried. The suit was backed by a majority of House Republicans, including Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd Dist.
The court dismissed the lawsuit without hearing arguments.
Then on Jan. 6, Cruz helped lead the effort in the U.S. Senate to throw out state-certified electoral votes that went for Biden. That effort also failed, but not before supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol in an attempt to block the count. Five people died, including a Capitol Police officer from New Jersey.
The House later impeached Trump on charges of inciting the insurrection. The Senate acquitted him.
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Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him at @JDSalant.
TheIronBug on March 6th, 2021 at 03:05 UTC »
I cant believe I live in a country where a fucking debate club deals out harsher punishments for trying to overturn an election than the Government does.
VeraLumina on March 6th, 2021 at 02:16 UTC »
He was the National US Speaker of the year in 1992, a champion debater. Now he’s just a ‘bater. This is a man who, because he has no ethics or morals, has squandered his gifts in exchange for power.
natur_al on March 6th, 2021 at 01:53 UTC »
It’s incredible that underneath the moron facade is a Princeton and Harvard Law educated person. He comes off so genuinely stupid. Especially as he rails against the “Ivy League educated elite.”