Ted Cruz said Wednesday that President Donald Trump once seriously discussed the possibility of him filling a Supreme Court vacancy during Trump’s first term, but Cruz said he declined each time, stressing that he prefers to remain in elected office and active political battles rather than serve as a judge.
“In the first Trump term, the president spoke to me seriously about all three vacancies, and three times I said no, because I don’t want to be out of the arena of the political battle,” Cruz said during a Wall Street Journal Opinion Live interview.
He added that his focus has remained on legislative and policy fights in Congress rather than judicial service. “I think there’s … too much need there,” he said, referring to ongoing policy debates he believes require elected lawmakers.
The remarks come as Trump, now serving as president again, continues to shape his broader judicial strategy and has weighed potential future Supreme Court vacancies involving Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, both of whom have been subjects of retirement speculation due to their lifetime appointments.
Trump has previously praised Cruz as a strong candidate for the bench. “Getting these nominations through is very tough, and he’s the only guy I know who’ll get 100 percent of the Democrat vote, 100 percent of the Republican vote,” Trump said of a hypothetical Cruz nomination during a February event in Corpus Christi, Texas. “They want to get him out of there,” he added.
During his first administration, Trump successfully reshaped the Supreme Court by appointing Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett, cementing a conservative majority that continues to influence major legal battles. Still, even with a 6-3 ideological balance, Trump’s policy agenda has faced setbacks in the courts, including rulings striking down his sweeping tariffs and skepticism from justices toward arguments involving birthright citizenship.
Cruz has extensive legal experience that has often fueled speculation about a potential judicial role. He holds a law degree from Harvard Law School and previously served as a legal adviser in the George W. Bush administration, as well as an associate deputy attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice, according to his congressional biography.
He also served as Texas solicitor general for five years, becoming both the youngest person and the first Hispanic to hold the position in the state’s history.
Despite that background, Cruz reiterated that he does not see himself moving into the judiciary. “I don’t want to be a judge. A principled federal judge stays out of policy fights and stays out of political fights. If I were a judge, I would do that. I don’t want to do that. I want to be right in the middle of political and policy fights. And if you want to do that, the right place to do that is an elected office,” he said during the Wall Street Journal event.
Cruz also pointed to his legislative priorities as a reason for staying in the Senate, citing education and economic initiatives. “And listen, we were talking a minute ago about some of the policy victories we’ve won, things like school choice and the Trump accounts. If I were a judge, neither one of those would exist, because the only reason they’re there is because I wrote the bill and then fought tooth and nail to get them in the bill,” he said.
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