• Sen. Patrick Leahy grew frustrated with Sen. Ted Cruz during Wednesday's Supreme Court confirmation hearing.
  • "I know the junior senator from Texas likes to get on television," Leahy quipped.
  • Cruz interrupted Sen. Mazie Hirono's questioning by trying to enter a letter into the record.

Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont on Wednesday suggested Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas was merely playing for the TV cameras in a tense moment on the third day of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's Supreme Court confirmation hearings.

Following the conclusion of tense questioning from Republican Sen. Josh Hawley about Jackson's record on sentencing child pornography offenders, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, recognized fellow Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii to begin her questioning next.

Following cross-talk between Cruz and Hirono, Leahy quickly became exasperated.

"Mr. Chairman, I waived my turn on here, and I've been on this committee for 47 years," he said. "I think we ought to follow the regular order."

Cruz began speaking again, asking to enter a letter from 10 of the committee's Republican members into the congressional record.

"I'm sorry senator, I don't want to go through this again," said Durbin, alluding to an earlier interaction where Durbin repeatedly banged his gavel as Cruz continued to question Jackson after his allotted time had expired.

As Cruz went on, Leahy spoke up again.

"Mr. Chairman," the veteran lawmaker said, "I know the junior senator from Texas likes to get on television but most of us have been here a long time, trying to follow the rules."

Leahy himself served as chairman of the committee from 2001 to 2003 and 2007 to 2015.

"Let's get back to regular order," he added.

 

Leahy also expressed frustration earlier Wednesday at another Republican on the committee, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who repeatedly interrupted Jackson as she answered his questions and spoke over his allotted time. At the time, Leahy had also called for "order" in the hearing.

Leahy later emerged from the hearing room and said Graham's behavior was "beyond the pale" and that he was "badgering" Jackson.

"As the Dean of the Senate," the Vermont Democrat told NBC News, "I'm just distressed to see this kind of a complete breakdown of what's normally the way the Senate's handled."

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