In the book, published in October by Regnery Publishing, Cruz argues “the left has corrupted the U.S. legal system,” and is using it to intimidate and even imprison “Americans who stand in the way of their radical agenda.”

Its front cover features a close-up of a statue, which depicts a person appearing to shout while holding a sword. So what does the image on his book show?

The Claim

On November 10, 2022, the Twitter user @nycsouthpaw, a lawyer, wrote in a tweet that garnered more than 4,000 interactions: “Cruz and his publishers put the Russian statue ‘The Motherland Calls’ commemorating Soviet victory at the Battle of Stalingrad on his new book about how the US legal system isn’t right wing enough yet.”

Tom Nichols, a staff writer at The Atlantic, also shared the tweet from Cruz featuring the front cover of his book. Nichols added: “Say, Ted Cruz – Why is the cover of your book one of the most famous Soviet-era statues from Volgograd, Russia?”

The Facts

The photo on the front of Cruz’s book is of the Soviet statue “The Motherland Calls,” unveiled in Volgograd (then named Stalingrad), at the Mamayev Kurgan Memorial Complex, to commemorate the decisive seven-month-long battle for the city in World War II, according to UNESCO.

During the battle, the German 6th Army, along with other Axis forces, was surrounded and eventually forced to surrender in one of the most decisive engagements of WWII.

In 1967, “The Motherland Calls” statue was unveiled in the city, renamed as Volgograd in 1961, as the centerpiece of a ‘Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad’ monument.

Designed by Yevgeny Vuchetich and Nikolai Nikitin, a sculptor and engineer, it was for a time the tallest statue in the world.

The 279-foot-tall monument depicts a woman, meant to represent the Soviet motherland, with sword drawn urging her children, Soviet citizens, to join the fight against the invading enemy, according to Visit Russia.

Cruz responded to Nichols’ question on Twitter: “Read the book & find out! Because your side removed the blindfold from Lady Justice and turned DOJ & the FBI into an avenging partisan angel, attacking their political enemies.”

In his book the aenator said: “The Department of Justice should not be Republican or Democrat. It should be utterly apolitical, and the attorney general should enforce the law fairly and justly regardless of party affiliation. Justice without the blindfold is a vengeful angel wielding power as a weapon to intimidate and oppress, not the guardian on whom we all rely in our hours of need.”

Speaking to Newsweek Thomas Spence, president of Regnery Publishing, said: “Senator Cruz did not select the image used on the cover of his book Justice Corrupted. Cover art is almost always the responsibility of the publisher alone.

“The image on the cover of Justice Corrupted is indeed a detail from a Soviet monument, but the provenance of that image was irrelevant to our decision to use it. We selected it from a stock art service because, as cropped on our book cover, it looks like ‘Lady Justice’ unblindfolded and wielding her sword as a weapon - an image perfectly suited for a book about the weaponization of the justice system.

“Because the statue itself is unknown to the vast majority of Americans, we believed that the likelihood of confusion about the message conveyed was quite small.

“The Twitter commentator @nycsouthpaw has a sharp eye and an impressive familiarity with Soviet monuments, but his literal-mindedness has led him astray in his interpretation of this book cover. I urge him to try to use his imagination.”

Newsweek has contacted Cruz’s office for comment.

The Ruling

True.

The cover of Ted Cruz’s book Justice Corrupted: How the Left Weaponized Our Legal System features an image of “The Motherland Calls”, a Soviet-era monument in Volgograd, Russia. The publisher confirmed to Newsweek that the stock photo of the statue was indeed used for the cover.

FACT CHECK BY NEWSWEEK