Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, faced sharp questioning from the co-hosts of “The View” on Wednesday over his new book defending Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, with one host telling him, “Welcome to being Black.”
The interview covered Thomas’s opposition to affirmative action, his experience at Yale Law School, and the history of the Constitution’s treatment of Black Americans. It ended abruptly when the show ran out of time, with co-host Whoopi Goldberg still pressing Cruz on why racial protections have not settled the debate.
Affirmative Action Under Fire
The tension started early when co-host Sunny Hostin questioned Cruz about his book, “The Incomparable Clarence Thomas.” Hostin acknowledged Thomas’s argument but pushed back on its conclusion.
“Clarence Thomas, he stated that affirmative action diminishes achievements because it allowed people to believe he had not earned his place at Yale and I think we can all agree that affirmative action was put in place to provide opportunities to qualified Black students, like Thomas, because those institutions historically would not give them the opportunities to go,” Hostin said.
She then asked Cruz directly: “So what I don’t understand how you handle in the book is, why is the lesson from his experience that we should eliminate the remedy rather than eliminate the racism that made the remedy necessary? I don’t understand that.”
Hostin added, “I mean, I genuinely don’t understand the framing in the book about that.”
Cruz responded by distinguishing between types of affirmative action. “If you’re talking about removing barriers, if you’re talking about expanding access, then I’m for that, he’s for that, everyone is for that. If you’re talking about quotas and discriminating based on race, then Justice Thomas has been the clearest defender of the principle that the Constitution prohibits the government discriminating based on race,” he said.
Thomas sided with the 6-3 majority ruling in 2023 on affirmative action. In that ruling, Thomas wrote that the decision “sees the universities’ admissions policies for what they are: rudderless, race-based preferences designed to ensure a particular racial mix in their entering classes.”
Yale and the Job Search
Hostin then questioned why Thomas felt his Yale degree was “diminished because people felt that it was a result of affirmative action.”
Cruz explained Thomas’s post-graduation experience. “So there was a reason for that. When he came out of Yale Law School, he had done very well in law school. He applied. Not a single law firm would hire him. Every law firm he interviewed said, ‘No’,” Cruz said.
Goldberg interjected with a blunt response: “Welcome to being Black.”
She then pointed to Thomas’s legal credentials and the nation’s founding. “How does he not remember that we weren’t part of the Constitution? Right? We were not. So there’s a reason people didn’t start off, we weren’t all equal,” Goldberg said.
Cruz argued that Thomas has addressed that history at length. “Look, the Civil War and Reconstruction, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. The 13th Amendment ended slavery. The 14th Amendment protected equal protection. And the 15th Amendment protected the right to vote, specifically for African Americans,” he said.
Goldberg responded with a question that ended the segment as time ran out: “So why are we still talking about it if it protects all of this? That’s the thing I guess.”
Cruz’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Audience Groans, Goldberg Pushes Back
Earlier in the show, Goldberg admonished the studio audience after they groaned when Cruz was announced as a guest.
“Look, this is a place where Barbara Walters made sure that anybody who wanted to come and have a good conversation could come,” she said, shutting down the booing. “So we want people to come, and we want to engage them. We don’t agree with them always. We don’t jell with them always, but we are respectful, and I know you will be too.”
She offered a memorable metaphor for the audience’s reaction, comparing it to swallowing a burp: “Sometimes you know stuff, it’s like a burp. It comes up and so just swallow it back down.”
Where the Two Sides Stand
The exchange highlighted the central disagreement between Thomas and his critics. Here is how the two positions break down:
- Thomas’s position, as described by Cruz: Affirmative action diminishes the achievements of qualified Black students by suggesting they did not earn their place, and race-based preferences violate the Constitution’s equal protection guarantee.
- Hostin’s position: The remedy exists because racism existed first, and eliminating the remedy rather than the racism treats the symptom while leaving the disease in place.
- Goldberg’s position: Black Americans were excluded from the Constitution’s original protections, so historical context explains why affirmative action was needed.
| Issue | Justice Thomas | The View co-hosts |
|---|---|---|
| Affirmative action | Race-based preferences are unconstitutional and diminish achievement | A necessary remedy for historical racism |
| Yale degree | Diminished because others assumed it came from affirmative action, not merit | Hostin questioned why the skepticism Thomas faced should lead to eliminating the remedy |
| Constitution | Cruz cited the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments as protections for Black Americans | Goldberg noted Black Americans were not part of the Constitution originally |
| Solution | Eliminate race-based government discrimination | Eliminate the racism that made the remedy necessary |
An Unresolved Argument
The interview did not resolve the disagreement. It ended with Goldberg’s question hanging in the air.
The exchange reflects a broader national argument about race, merit, and the Constitution that has continued since the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling. Thomas has written forcefully against affirmative action, while critics like Hostin argue that his personal experience should point toward fixing racism rather than abandoning the tools used to fight it.
For Cruz, the book and the interview serve as a defense of Thomas’s legacy and his jurisprudence. For the co-hosts of “The View,” the interview was an opportunity to challenge that legacy directly.
Neither side appeared to change the other’s mind. But the exchange did put the core disagreement on display: whether the problem is race-based policy or the racism that created it.
Source: foxnews.com
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