The Harvard Crimson reports
More than 900 Harvard Law School affiliates signed a statement denouncing Sen. Ted Cruz — a Republican from Texas who graduated from the Law School in 1995 — for contesting the results of the recent presidential election.
In the months since President-elect Joe R. Biden defeated President Donald J. Trump, the Justice Department discovered no instances of widespread voter fraud. Nonetheless, Trump and his allies have continued to falsely claim that he won the election, including in dozens of failed lawsuits.
On Jan. 2, Cruz and 10 other Senate Republicans announced their intent to object to the certification of some votes in the Electoral College, calling for an “emergency 10-day audit of the election returns in the disputed states.”
The Law School statement condemns Cruz for the objection, stating that his “false claims of voter fraud” and his choice to contest votes are “utterly inconsistent” with his oath of office.
“We, the undersigned members of the Harvard Law School community, unequivocally condemn the attempt of fellow graduate Ted Cruz ’95 and any of his supporters to undermine democracy and our Constitution by improperly challenging the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as President and Vice-President of the United States,” it reads.
Christopher M. “Chris” Kelly — a former policy advisor to President Bill Clinton and a 1997 Law School graduate — collaborated with fellow HLS alums Marvin Ammori and Katie “Kathryn” Biber to write the statement. Kelly said the influence of institutions such as Harvard Law inspired him to develop and circulate the petition.
“I think that graduates of law schools where the law has been made for years and where the Constitution is supposed to be respected needed to step forward and say, unequivocally, that this is a violation of constitutional oath, and it needs to be, at the very least, actively censured, called out,” he said.
Kelly wrote and circulated the statement prior to Jan. 6 — the date of the formal certification of Electoral College votes and the planned objection from Republicans like Cruz. Hundreds of affiliates signed on before that day.
Source: https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2021/1/13/hls-petition-cruz/
