Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, said Sunday he was honored to be included on President Trump’s shortlist of potential Supreme Court nominees, but that serving as a justice is “not the desire of my heart.”
Does he want the job? “You know, I don’t,” Mr. Cruz told Fox’s Maria Bartiromo.
“It’s deeply honoring. It’s humbling to be included in the list. I’m grateful that the president has that confidence in me, but it’s not the desire of my heart,” said Mr. Cruz. “I want to be in the political fight. I want to be fighting to nominate and confirm three, four, five principled constitutionalist justices.”
Mr. Trump released Wednesday a list of conservatives he would consider to fill vacancies on the high court during a second term, which included Mr. Cruz as well as Republican Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Josh Hawley of Missouri.
While Mr. Cruz boasts impeccable legal credentials—he earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School and served as former Texas solicitor general and adjunct professor at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin—he said he prefers the political trenches.
“That’s not where I want to serve. I want to stay fighting right where I am in the U.S. Senate,” Mr. Cruz said.
Cruz says he would not accept SCOTUS nomination: ’I want to be in political fight’ https://t.co/A9udxnsA6P @FoxNews @SundayFutures @SenTedCruz
— Maria Bartiromo (@MariaBartiromo) September 13, 2020
Mr. Cruz may not want to sit on the Supreme Court, but he spent the summer writing a book about it titled “One Vote Away: How a Single Supreme Court Seat Can Change History.”
Published by Regnery and slated to be released Oct. 6, the book offers a game plan for Republicans seeking to place reliable constitutional conservatives on the bench.
“Democrats, they get this right almost every time,” Mr. Cruz said. “Their nominees bat close to 1.000. They vote almost exactly how Democrats would want them to vote on almost every issue.”
Not so with Republicans, who still cringe at the mention of squishy GOP presidential picks such as Justices Anthony Kennedy, David Souter and Earl Warren.
“Republican nominees maybe bat .500. We need to get it right, and the book lays out, here’s how you get it right, here’s what you look for so that we stop screwing this up and stop rolling the dice with our constitutional liberties,” Mr. Cruz said.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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