Trump in Lubbock Floats Ted Cruz for the Supreme Court: 'I Would Pick Ted Cruz to Be the Next Supreme Court Justice'
There is no vacancy on the high court, and President Donald Trump made no nomination on Tuesday night. But before a Lubbock crowd - with Sen. Ted Cruz on site - he floated the Texas senator for the bench, and joked that both parties would confirm him unanimously just to be rid of him.
LUBBOCK - President Donald Trump used the closing stretch of his Lubbock rally on Tuesday night to float a new job for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz: the United States Supreme Court. "I would pick Ted Cruz to be the next Supreme Court Justice," Trump said to loud applause at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center, USA Today reported in its live coverage. The president said he had come up with the idea as an answer to getting more of his agenda past the high court.
The pitch came with a joke at Cruz's expense. "And I wouldn't even have to make a phone call," Trump said. "The Democrats will 100% vote for it, because they hate the guy and they want to get rid of him. And the Republicans would 100% vote for it because they can't stand him, they would like to get rid of him." He would be unanimously confirmed by the Senate, Trump said, "and he would be a Supreme Court justice, and he'd do a great job." Cruz was among the Republican figures on site at the Civic Center on Tuesday, the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reported.
To be clear about what did and did not happen: there are currently no vacancies on the Supreme Court, Trump announced no nomination, and even with a vacancy, Cruz's path to confirmation would be more complicated than the rally version laid out. Cruz, a Harvard Law graduate, is also a potential presidential candidate - a lane in which Vice President JD Vance is the current favorite in 2028 polling, as USA Today noted - so a seat on the bench would offer the Texas senator an off-ramp from a possible 2028 clash with Vance. On Tuesday night in Lubbock, it was a rally line, delivered for applause. It is now on the record, one week before a midterm election in Cruz's home state.
