President Donald Trump brought up the prospect of nominating Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) to the Supreme Court in jest on Monday during a White House event on Trump Accounts.
Cruz, who championed implementing Trump Accounts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, attended the president’s official launch event of the program on Monday at the White House. When Trump introduced Cruz, he spoke about their competitive dynamic in the 2016 Republican presidential primary and the fact that they have a friendly relationship today.
“He’s done a wonderful job as a senator, highly respected,” Trump told the crowd in the Oval Office on Monday.
Trump then broached the idea of nominating Cruz to the Supreme Court.
“In fact, somebody said, ‘Would you ever appoint him to the United States Supreme Court?’ Because he’s a brilliant lawyer, Ted. I said, ‘Well, he’s the only one I can think of that’s going to get 100 votes,’” Trump said.
“All Republicans will vote for him, all Democrats will vote for him, because they want to get him the hell out of the Senate,” he said.
The attendees in the room laughed at Trump’s quip as he emphasized, “If I was having a hard time with getting the votes, I would appoint Ted Cruz. I’d get 100%, guaranteed.”
There is currently no vacancy on the Supreme Court, with all nine justice seats filled.
NPR ran and retracted a story on Tuesday, June 30, that inaccurately announced that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was retiring. The outlet took down the story, which was published after the court handed down several key decisions, after the Supreme Court said no announcement had been made.
TRUMP ALREADY HAS A SHORT LIST IN CASE OF A SUPREME COURT VACANCY
But the press flurry over the retracted report sparked conversations across Washington about who Trump would nominate if a vacancy on the court presented itself during his term as president. White House officials confirmed to the Washington Examiner last week that Trump does have a short list of possible nominees if there is an opening on the court in the future.
Three of the eight associate justices on the court were appointed by Trump during his first term as president: Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.