Texas Sen. Ted Cruz On Confirming Supreme Court Nominee: 'I Believe We Will Have The Votes To Get That Done'
(CBSDFW.COM) - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said this week he's confident Senate Republicans will have the votes to confirm President Donald Trump's new nominee for the Supreme Court. "I believe it is critical that we confirm that nominee before Election Day. I believe we will have the votes to get that done."
With both Republicans and Democrats facing accusations of hypocrisy, Cruz explained why he believes Republicans should confirm President Donald Trump's nominee to succeed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and why they didn't confirm former President Barack Obama's nominee to the Court, Merrick Garland, back in 2016. "The history is clear - that if the President and the Senator are of the same party, the confirmation goes through, and if they're of a different party, the confirmation doesn't go through. By making this nomination, the President is delivering on his promise to the voters, and by the Senate confirming this nominee, the Republicans who made that promise are delivering on our promise to the voters."
CBS News is reporting the president intends to nominate 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Amy Coney Barrett.
He's also considered 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Barbara Lagoa.
Cruz said, "Both are serious, well-respected judges. Both have a significant record. the U.S. Senate has confirmed both in the past couple of years."
Before being elected, Cruz served as Texas Solicitor General, who argued nine times before the Supreme Court, including Justice Ginsburg.
He called her absolutely brilliant and an amazing trailblazer. "Whether she was with you or against you, she was an amazingly talented and effective judge and jurist and her legacy by any measure, she will go down in history as being one of the most consequential Supreme Court Justices ever to serve."
A Senate resolution honoring Justice Ginsburg failed.
The senator opposed it saying the language Democrats added was partisan because it included her reported dying wish that a new nominee be chosen by the winner of the November election.
Cruz was on the president's latest list of potential nominees, but the senator has said he is not interested in the job.
Full Interview With Sen. Ted Cruz:
