Ted Cruz's lawyers compare his struggle to Rosa Parks' in court filing over $10,000

Republican senator took out loan on day before election in order to challenge funding rule, FEC alleges

Ted Cruz is suing the Federal Election Commission (FEC) over campaign finance restrictions he says violate his rights under the First Amendment (Getty Images)

Ted Cruz‘s lawyers have compared the Republican senator to Rosa Parks in a court filing.

Mr Cruz is suing the Federal Election Commission (FEC) over campaign finance restrictions he says violate his rights under the First Amendment.

The current rule says campaigns cannot spend more than $250,000 (£199,000) in donations to repay a personal loan to the campaign after an election.

Mr Cruz claims he is owed $10,000 (£8,000) after he took out a £260,000 (£206,000) loan in his campaign against Beto O’Rourke last year. He submitted the loan the day before voting began.

However, the FEC said Mr Cruz could have paid himself back with some of the $2.2m (£1.7m) the campaign raised before the election or could have loaned no more than $250,000.

In response, his lawyers wrote: "The FEC also asserts that Senator Cruz and the Cruz Committee inflicted their injuries on themselves because they could have arranged to repay the Senator’s loans using pre-election funds.

“Yes, and Rosa Parks could have sat in the back of the bus. FEC’s argument essentially faults Plaintiffs for not forfeiting the very constitutional right they seek to vindicate in this litigation.”

Ms Parks was the civil rights activist who refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger, leading to her arrest and sparking the Montgomery bus boycott.

The US Congress has referred to her as “the first lady of civil rights” and “the mother of the freedom movement”.

The FEC alleged Mr Cruz took out the loan the day before the election in order to challenge the funding rule, CBS News reported.

Campaign finance organisations have said the limit exists to prevent candidates from raising unlimited funds to repay their campaign debts.