page_title: Ted Cruz
section_title: Crime, guns, and drug policy
hierarchical_section_title: Ted Cruz / Political positions / Crime, guns, and drug policy
caption_attribution_description: English: President Donald Trump, center, holds a NASA flight jacket presented to him by NASA Astronaut Office Chief Chris Cassidy, blue jacket left, after signing the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017, alongside members of the Senate, Congress, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, March 21, 2017. Also pictured, from left, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas,, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-FL, NASA Astronaut Office Chief Chris Cassidy, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, Sen. Luther Strange, R-AL, Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-AL, Rep. Frank Lucas, R-OK, Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-OK, Rep. Steven Palazzo, R-Miss., and NASA Astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson.
context_page_description: Rafael Edward Cruz is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States Senator for Texas since 2013. He was the runner-up for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2016 election.
  Cruz holds degrees in public policy and law from Princeton University and Harvard Law School, respectively. From 1999 to 2003, he held various government positions, serving as Director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, as an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice, and as a Domestic Policy Advisor to George W. Bush during Bush's 2000 presidential campaign. Cruz served as Solicitor General of Texas from 2003 to 2008, having been appointed by Texas Attorney General and later Governor Greg Abbott. He was the longest-serving solicitor general in Texas history and the first Hispanic American to serve in that capacity. From 2004 to 2009, Cruz was an adjunct professor at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, where he taught U.S. Supreme Court litigation.
  In 2012, Cruz ran for and won the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by fellow Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison.
context_section_description: Cruz has called for an end to "overcriminalization, harsh mandatory minimum sentences, and the demise of jury trials". He supports the death penalty. In his 2012 Senate campaign, Cruz frequently mentioned his role as counsel for the State of Texas in Medellín v. Texas, a 2008 case in which the U.S. Supreme Court found that Texas has the legal right to ignore an order from the International Court of Justice directing the U.S. to review the convictions and sentences of dozens of Mexican nationals on death row. Cruz has referred to Medellín as the most important case of his tenure as Texas solicitor general.
  Cruz is a gun-rights supporter, and opposes expanding gun control regulations.
  In an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt discussing the attack that killed three people at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Cruz said that "the simple and undeniable fact is the overwhelming majority of violent criminals are Democrats", and that the reason Democrats are soft on crime, is that convicted felons tend to vote Democratic.
  In August 2015, in the wake of the ambush death of a Texas police officer who was gunned down while filling up at a gas station, Cruz said that police are "feeling the assault from the President, from the top on down, as we see – whether it's in Ferguson or Baltimore, the response from senior officials, the President or the Attorney General, is to vilify law enforcement. That's wrong. It's fundamentally wrong. It's endangering all of our safety and security."
  Cruz opposes the legalization of marijuana, but believes it should be decided at the state level. Following the legalization of marijuana in Colorado he stated that, "If the citizens of Colorado decide they want to go down that road, that's their prerogative. I personally don't agree with it, but that's their right."
  Cruz met with Alyssa Milano and Fred Guttenberg to discuss gun violence. Guttenberg said this was "a really important day."
caption: Cruz and President Donald Trump, after signing the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017
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