Overview
- President Trump said at a White House event with Sen. Ted Cruz present that Cruz “would get 100 votes” for a Supreme Court seat because Democrats would vote to remove him from the Senate, a remark delivered as a joke on Monday.
- There is currently no Supreme Court vacancy and all nine seats remain filled, even after a retracted NPR report last month falsely suggested Justice Samuel Alito planned to retire.
- Trump has repeatedly floated Cruz as a potential nominee since 2020, using the line as a rhetorical trial balloon rather than a formal pledge to nominate him.
- Cruz has a legal résumé commonly cited for the bench, including a clerkship for Chief Justice William Rehnquist and service as Texas solicitor general, but he has publicly said he does not want the job.
- The comment matters because Republicans hold a narrow 53-47 Senate majority and the 2026 midterms could change control, so any real vacancy would trigger speedy, high-stakes timing and strategy in Washington.