Updated August 31, 2026 at 12:30 PM MDT
Sen. Ted Cruz's new book, Going Further, details the story of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, from his rise from poverty to his move to the political right.
By the 1980s, Thomas was a Republican, serving in the Reagan administration and later leading the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, while leaning on the individualism he'd learned growing up. Today, he's the court's senior justice and among its most conservative.
Cruz says Thomas is comfortable filing dissents, even if the vote is 8-1, and is unusually willing to overturn precedent.
"There has never been a Supreme Court justice more willing to go back to the original Constitution, go back to the original understanding and to overturn precedent," Cruz told Morning Edition.
The book recounts an exchange between Thomas and the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Scalia told Thomas, who was pushing to overrule older precedents he thought were wrong, "Clarence, you're tilting at windmills." Thomas responded, "Nino, windmills are dangerous."
Cruz says Thomas is determined to hold to the Constitution. During the NPR interview, Cruz was asked about opinions in which critics would say Thomas went beyond the constitution's text. When the court upheld birthright citizenship, Thomas dissented. Cruz argued that a phrase in the Constitution gives latitude for that. Cruz also defended a ruling favoring President Trump, who sought immunity from prosecution between his two terms, arguing that it was consistent with the separation of powers.
Cruz also pointed to an example of Thomas defying conservatives decades before he was a judge, when Thomas objected to Bob Jones University's ban on interracial dating.
While speaking to NPR's Steve Inskeep, Cruz talked about Thomas' willingness to break with precedent, his view of the Constitution and presidential power and what kind of Supreme Court justice Cruz would appoint if he ever had the opportunity.
Listen to the full interview by clicking the play button above. The digital version was written by Majd Al-Waheidi and edited by Treye Green.
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