AUSTIN – Former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz and former Texas Supreme Court Justice Scott Brister have joined the Texas Public Policy Foundation as Senior Fellows.

Foundation President Brooke Rollins announced at an Austin luncheon today that Cruz and Brister will work with the Center for Tenth Amendment Studies, the Foundation's eighth policy center.

The Foundation's Center for Tenth Amendment Studies was established to pursue the restoration of the Constitution's original system of checks and balances through which citizens can restrain their own government and thereby enjoy their unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Center will accomplish this through research and outreach to policymakers and the public.

"The Center for Tenth Amendment Studies is arguably the most important project we have undertaken," Rollins said. "Texas has shown that it can meet the needs of its citizens without the support or interference of the federal government. Now it is time to address the more fundamental question of how we can protect our freedoms and roll back the encroachments of an increasingly voracious national government."

"Ted Cruz and Scott Brister are two of Texas' most outstanding attorneys and constitutional experts," Rollins said. "Their experience paired with our existing policy capabilities will help the Texas Public Policy Foundation produce sound research that shows how America can restore a proper balance between the federal government, the state, and the people."

Ted Cruz served as Solicitor General for the State of Texas – the chief appellate lawyer for the state – between 2003 and 2008. He was the first Hispanic to serve in that position, and was the youngest solicitor general in the country at the time of his appointment. Cruz has authored more than 80 U.S. Supreme Court briefs and presented 37 oral arguments, including eight before the U.S. Supreme Court, the most of any lawyer in Texas. Currently, Cruz leads the U.S. Supreme Court and Appellate Litigation Practice in the Houston office of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Texas School of Law, where he teaches U.S. Supreme Court litigation.

"Right now, we are facing from Washington, D.C., the greatest threat to our liberty we have ever seen, and we have to fight that threat on every front," Cruz said. "Our Constitution was designed to prevent federal government power from controlling our everyday lives, and I'm honored to be working with the Texas Public Policy Foundation to defend the Tenth Amendment and to preserve our liberty."

Scott Brister served six years as a justice on the Texas Supreme Court, during which time he authored 122 opinions for the Court. Over his 20 years of judicial experience, he presided over 670 trials to verdict and authored more than 600 appellate opinions. He is co-author of Texas Pretrial Practice; head of the appellate section in the Austin office of Andrews Kurth LLP; and is board-certified in civil appellate, civil trial, and personal injury trial law.

The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a non-profit free-market research institute based in Austin.

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