Senator Ted Cruz rejected President Donald Trump’s suggestion that he could be nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court with a simple answer: Hell no.
Trump had praised Cruz during a speech promoting his administration’s new Trump Account initiative at the Andrew Mellon Auditorium in Washington. The president called the Texas Republican “a brilliant legal mind” and “a brilliant man” before joking that he should join the Supreme Court next.
“If I nominate Ted Cruz for the United States Supreme Court, I will get 100 percent of the vote,” Trump said, according to Newsweek. “The Democrats will vote for him because they want to get him the hell out [of the U.S. Senate]. And the Republicans will vote for him because they want to get him the hell out, too.”
The auditorium burst into laughter at Trump’s remarks.
Trump: If I nominate Ted Cruz for the Supreme Court, the Democrats will vote for him because they want to get him the hell out. And the Republicans will vote for him because they want to get him the hell out, too pic.twitter.com/EAVbvDyHHo
— Acyn (@Acyn) January 28, 2026
Cruz later responded, “No, just no. Hell no.”
Over the years, Cruz has repeatedly resisted the idea that he could be nominated to the Supreme Court.
“A principled federal judge stays out of policy fights and stays out of political fights,” Cruz said.
Cruz said he has no interest in staying out of political battles.
“I want to be right in the middle of them,” he said, although he also noted that being considered for the Supreme Court is “a high honor.”
New: @tedcruz responds to @realDonaldTrump indication that he could nominate Sen. Cruz for SCOTUS: “And so my answer, and the President knows this, I've told him this in the Oval Office, my answer is not only no, but hell no.” pic.twitter.com/xOaeqLIQXA
— Mary Elise O’Bar (@MaryEliseOBar) January 28, 2026
Even if Trump wanted to nominate Cruz, there would need to be a vacancy on the Supreme Court. Justices serve lifetime appointments, and there is no indication that any of the current nine justices plan to leave their posts soon.
The longest-serving member is conservative judge Clarence Thomas, aged 77 who was appointed in 1991, followed by conservative Samuel Alito, age 75, and liberal Sonia Sotomayor, age 71.
Cruz is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, where he served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review. After law school, he clerked for Chief Justice William Rehnquist on the U.S. Supreme Court in 1996-1997 before later entering politics.