Thomas J. Mulroney

Thomas John Mulroney is an American politician who is currently serving as the Second Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of America, since July 20th, 2021. Bush also served as the 3rd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. Bush served as a U.S. representative from District Five from November 13th, 2020 to February 2nd, 2021 to his successor Jamaal Jones, as Speaker of the same body from January 9th, 2021 to February 2nd, 2021 to his successor, Hillary Cunningham.

Mulroney governed as a conservative politician with an emphasis on small-government. He has campaigned against increasing taxes and increasing spending. Mulroney described himself a "compassionate conservative", which he says uses conservative policy to help lift up those who are less fortunate.

## Thomas J. Mulroney

### Political Office(s)

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (2021-present)
Administrator of DES (2021-present)

Speaker of the House of Representatives (2020-2021)

### Political Affiliation(s)

Republican Party (1962-2021)
Unaffiliated (2021-present)

## Early Life

Thomas John Mulroney was born on July 6, 1946, at Belton Urgent Care Clinic Hospital in Crawford, Texas, while his father was a student at Yale. He was the first child of Martin and Mary Mulroney. He was raised in Crawford and Houston, Texas, with four siblings, Stephen, Donald, George and Anne. His grandfather, Thomas Prescott Mulroney, was a U.S. Senator from Texas. Mulroney has English and some German ancestry, along with more distant Dutch, Welsh, Irish, French, and Scottish roots.

Mulroney attended private schools in Crawford, Texas until the family moved to Houston after he had completed seventh grade. He then spent two years at The Kinkaid School, a prep school in Piney Point Village, Texas in the Houston area. Mulroney then began his legal career, studying and eventually graduating from Harvard Law School. Mulroney then passed the Texas BAR Exam and became a Public Defender.

## District Five Representative

Mulroney quickly rose up the ranks of the Texas Republican Party and became the Texas U.S. House Republican Party campaign manager, leading the GOP to win the District Five House Seat. Following the seat becoming vacant, he was appointed to serve as the Member of Congress for the Fifth Congressional district by National RNC Chairman Jakob Ainsley.

Mulroney was then elected in his own right, un-opposed, to represent the district for the next term of Congress. Mulroney quickly entered Republican House leadership, becoming a close confident to then-Speaker Benjamin A. Bryant (R-AL). Mulroney was then elected as Leader of the House Republican Conference, and subsequently Majority Leader of the House of Representatives. Speaker Benjamin Bryant announced he would be retiring from the House to run for President of the United States against incumbent Hillary Cunningham (D-VA). Following Bryant's election and the subsequent House elections, where the Republican party expanded it's significant hold over the chamber, Mulroney declared his candidacy for Speaker.

Despite being considered the early favorite to win, Mulroney began to run into difficulty when long-time incumbent Rep. Everett Terry (R-NM) announced his candidacy. Mulroney ended up losing the vote overall by a single vote and gave up his position as Majority Leader to Rep. Edwin House (R-CA). Over the next term, Mulroney became less vocal and moved away from the limelight.

Mulroney was thrust back into speculation when Speaker Terry announced that he would retire at the end of the term. Rep. Mulroney immediately began making moves to secure the Speakership. Following his re-election to the House, again un-opposed, Mulroney formally announced his campaign for the Speakership. Republicans quickly coalesced around Mulroney and he became the undisputed favorite to win the election. Shortly after, Mulroney was elected Speaker of the House, defeating Rep. Lucas Underwood (D-NY).

## Speaker of the House of Representatives

Following his election as Speaker of the House, Mulroney established himself as a firm supporter of President Benjamin Bryant. Many on the left have criticised Mulroney for refusing to compromise, in response to this Mulroney has stated *"I'm happy to compromise and work with anyone to achieve for the American people, but when you have some members who say 'give me exactly what I want or you get nothing', it's hard to compromise with them. So would I rather sit around and wait for these people to come around, which they won't, or would I rather take action to get things done for the American people, even if that means only working with our side of the isle. For me the answer is pretty clear".*

   As Speaker, Mulroney worked with the Bryant administration to pass constitutional reforms, housing reforms, budgetary reforms and a wide variety of other issues. Following his election as Speaker, Mulroney established himself as an advocate for small government and cutting waste spending to increase the federal surplus.

As the midterm elections for the House of Representatives approached, Mulroney and the NRCC *(National Republican Congressional Committee)* began recruiting candidates for the upcoming elections. It soon became clear that the Democrats were poised to gain seats, and perhaps take the House. As results trickled in on election night, Mulroney's position as Speaker seemed to be under threat, but in the end Republicans held onto the House majority by one seat and subsequently Mulroney was elected to his second term in the role.

Due to the significant Democratic gains in the midterms, both President Bryant and Speaker Mulroney found themselves having to work with Democrats more and more on key issues. This came to a head when budget negotiations began and the White House set up a line of communication to Democratic Congressional leaders. At first, a budget deal seemed likely but as negotiations dragged on neither side was able to agree on a cut to social security and it seemed that the government was heading toward a shutdown. This was avoided when Mulroney and Senator Kenneth Allen (D-MI) were able to strike a deal, in co-ordination with the White House, on a 2.5 percent cut to social security, among other things.

Mulroney's position as Speaker was once again put into jeopardy after Rep. Mary McMulin (R-GA) defected to the Democrats, handing them a slim majority in the chamber. Not long after this, Rep. Hillary Cunningham (D-VA) tabled a resolution calling for speaker elections and the subsequent ousting of Mulroney. This move was met with hostility by a majority of the American public, with many considering the move to be a powergrab. The public anger in response to the resolution made some Democrats rethink their support for the motion and eventually led to it's roll call defeat. Mulroney remained as Speaker, despite the Democrats holding an overall house majority.

This gridlock was later resolved as President Bryant's second midterms approached. Republicans were optimistic of gaining seats as they saw many areas to improve on their campaign and candidate recruitment. Republicans fielded candidates in almost every district, and on election day every single Republican candidate was elected. This gave Republicans 8 seats to 2 Democrats and 1 independent. Mulroney was re-elected as Speaker again unanimously and entered his third term in office.

Mulroney remained a loyal supporter of President Bryant and took to defending him after accusations of impropriety by Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Kenneth Allen. In his third term, Mulroney took a strong stance on what he coined "defaming, character assaulting and patently untrue lies cast on the President of the United States spun by those who are desperate for power" and even censured Senator Kenneth Allen (D-MI) for his accusations that the President tried to edit a signed law.

After multiple months as Speaker, Mulroney decided to pass the torch to a new generation of leaders and announced his resignation from the House of Representatives. Mulroney then entered retirement and left the forefront of American politics.

## Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Despite being in retirement, Mulroney was approached by both Presidents Harry Bennett and Brett Cawthorn to serve on the Supreme Court. After several days of indecision, Mulroney accepted President Bennett's nomination as Chief Justice. Mulroney's confirmation process was slow but uncontroversial. Mulroney's nomination was renewed by President Cawthorn following the expiration of President Bennett's term in office.

After a brief hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mulroney was confirmed by the United States Senate to serve as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in a bi-partisan vote. Mulroney was sworn in as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by Justice Benjamin Bryant on July 20th, 2021.

The Mulroney Court is considered to be a conservative Court. The Mulroney Court has so far affirmed its support of the right to life of the unborn, dismissing cases brought forward by pro-choice groups to overturn provincial restrictions on abortion.

## Electoral History

**District Five House Election,** November 13, 2020

**District Five House Election,** December 13, 2020

**District Five House Election,** January 1, 2021

**District Five House Election,** January 22, 2021