This isn’t the first time President Trump has touted Sen. Ted Cruz as a potential Supreme Court pick.
But that’s the point — the President KEEPS COMING BACK to this.
And he has consistently landed first and foremost on Cruz as a solid choice for a Supreme Court Justice, were he to get an opening to appoint another during his current term.
I think Ted Cruz is like coffee, especially for us Texans — people either love him, or hate him.
Except me, apparently. I love coffee 100% of the time, but I’m fickle on Ted Cruz.
What I’m not fickle about is his love of the Constitution, and his rendering of it through an originalist lens with high respect to original intent.
Not unlike Clarence Thomas, in my view. (Though there are big differences between those two individuals, which Cruz himself has outlined, and which we shall get to!)
So whether President Trump actually gets another shot at nominating another Supreme Court Justice, and whether or not he actually lands on Cruz —
The fact is, President Trump is obviously not letting this go.
Love him, hate him, or in somewhat of a fickle way… respect him as a Constitutionalist, as I do — could the current junior Senator from Texas actually wind up on the Supreme Court?
If you asked President Trump today while he visited Corpus Christi along the Texas coast, his answer seemed like a distinct “I hope so”.
President Trump has used a version of a particular joke multiple times when touting Cruz as a potential Justice, working off the exact “love/hate” emotions that many have towards Ted Cruz.
But I don’t believe he’s joking about his desire to put Cruz on the SCOTUS judicial bench.
Here’s a clip from today, as President Trump brings up the topic AGAIN:
🚨 JUST IN: President Trump says he's thinking about putting Sen. TED CRUZ on the SUPREME COURT
"I'm thinking about putting him in the Supreme Court! He's the only guy I'd know who'd get 100% of Democrats AND Republicans — they want to get him out of there, he's such a pain in… pic.twitter.com/Kfw8sLsRzR
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) February 27, 2026
Backup here if needed:
Here’s the full text of that post, along with the President’s joke:
JUST IN: President Trump says he’s thinking about putting Sen. TED CRUZ on the SUPREME COURT
“I’m thinking about putting him in the Supreme Court! He’s the only guy I’d know who’d get 100% of Democrats AND Republicans — they want to get him out of there, he’s such a pain in the a*s, but he’s so talented!”
A slightly longer clip of the same moment was caught by C-SPAN cameras during the President’s speech in Texas today.
This gives a little more context:
🚨 BREAKING: Trump says he’s considering nominating Ted Cruz to the Supreme Court.
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) February 27, 2026
As I pointed out up front, this isn’t a new idea from President Trump.
Just a month back in January of this year, the President used a modified version of the same joke during an event to seed the idea. (At least, that’s what I suspect he’s doing.)
In that instance, Cruz appeared on a podcast later in the day and spoke in a little bit of detail about the possibility.
Surprisingly enough, Cruz is adamantly against the idea, as was reported in January of this year by a Houston-based Fox News affiliate:
While speaking about Trump Accounts on Wednesday, Trump praised Cruz for being a “brilliant legal mind” before saying that Cruz would get “100% of the vote” if he were nominated to the court.
“The Democrats will vote for him because they want to get him the hell out,” Trump said. “And the Republicans will vote for him because they want to get him the hell out, too.”
The comments brought laughter from the crowd and Trump pointed out Cruz in the audience, calling him a “great guy.”
Cruz was on the Ruthless podcast later in the day when he said he was flattered but wasn’t interested in serving on the Supreme Court.
“My answer’s not just no, it’s hell no,” Cruz said. “It is interesting in the first Trump term, the president talked to me about all three Supreme Court vacancies, and we had very serious conversations and I told him no all three times.”
Cruz said that while he was never officially offered any of the vacancies, he and Trump had a long conversation about the seat that was opened when Justice Antonin Scalia died.
“I wrestled with it because I knew Justice Scalia and revered him,” Cruz said. “And to have the opportunity to succeed him, I mean, talk about taking your breath away.”
ADVERTISEMENTCruz said his decision to stay away from the Supreme Court comes from his desire to be in the middle of political and policy fights.
“A principled federal judge stays out of political fights and stays out of policy fights,” Cruz said. “I want to be right in the middle of them.” (Emphasis added.)
This would be one of those times that my fickle love/hate relationship with Ted Cruz leans towards the love and respect side.
Because as soon as I read that article, I knew he was right.
Ted Cruz, loyal and strong constitutionalist though he is (in my opinion, at least…) — what he is NOT is the spitting image of a Supreme Court Justice who ONLY highlights the law itself.
Cruz likes to wage the war on the battlefield of politics, at the level of legislating and wrangling for consensus.
He admittedly craves to be smack dab in the middle of the fight on the political level!
And while a good Supreme Court Justice might FIND him or herself in the middle of a political fight…
It’s not their true domain. And Cruz is wise enough to know it, and recognize that’s not how the good Lord designed or intended him to operate.
Here’s a clip of that event in January for those who want to watch it for themselves.
This is a really interesting clip, by the way, because President Trump talks very candidly about the relationship between him and Cruz:
If you watched that, you heard President Trump point out Cruz’ brilliant “legal mind”.
I’m convinced that’s what the President loves about Cruz the most, and why he would desperately love to put him on the Supreme Court, given the chance. (If he could just get Cruz to change his mind!)
Cruz has consistently fought with the zeal of a true Constitutionalist — love him or hate him — when it comes to the High Court and issues of constitutional law.
Which, as I said, is probably one of the reasons President Trump has consistently leaned so heavily towards Cruz as a potential SCOTUS Justice, in spite of Cruz’ own logical misgivings.
Remember back with me this time last year, when President Trump was fresh back to the White House.
Cruz was hard at work attempting to cap the number of SCOTUS Justices with a constitutional amendment in response to threats to water down the court from the Left, as was reported at the time by Fox News:
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX, is reintroducing a constitutional amendment to cap the number of Supreme Court Justices at nine, amid calls to expand the court.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Cruz said Democrats are seeking to “use the Court to advance policy goals they can’t accomplish electorally.”
“Such a move would be a direct assault on the design of our Constitution, which is designed to ensure the Supreme Court remains a non-partisan guardian of the rule of law,” Cruz said. “This amendment is a badly-needed check on their efforts to undermine the integrity of the Court.”
That focus on ensuring that the Supreme Court remains as much of a legitimate “guardian of the rule of law”, as Cruz put it, is why I think President Trump keeps coming back to him.
Will Ted Cruz ever change his mind and give in?
I doubt it, short of some crisis in which he sees some potentiality playing out on the court and his presence on the bench would help right the ship.
Could that happen?
You bet your bottom dollar, that could happen. The Democrats haven’t given up the idea of watering down the court and “packing” the bench.
WILL it happen… is a thing for prophets and time travelers, and I am neither.
But President Trump’s reluctance to let the issue go is a pattern that should cause a wise and discerning person not to assume it’s a dead issue.
And if I hear anything else of substance on it, you’ll be the first to know.
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