U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz speaks during a conservative conference.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz speaks during a conservative conference. Credit: Wikimedia Commons / Gage Skidmore

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, this week said he’s told President Donald Trump on three separate occasions that he has no interest in becoming a U.S. Supreme Court justice.

“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 on Wednesday.

Cruz’s comments come after Politico reported two White House sources “granted anonymity to describe Trump’s thinking” maintain the president wants to appoint Cruz to the high court to replace either Samuel Alito or Clarence Thomas, should one retire before the midterms. The two men represent the court’s rightmost flank.

“Getting those nominations through is very tough, and he’s the only guy I know who’ll get 100% of the Democrat vote, and 100% of the Republican vote,” Trump said during a February visit to Corpus Christi. “They want him out of there. He is such a pain in the ass.

Despite the backhanded compliment, Cruz insisted during the WSJ panel that he’s not interested.

“I don’t want to be a judge,” Cruz said. “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.”

Even so, Cruz has the legal background for the position.

The senator graduated Harvard Law magna cum laude, served as a law clerk to Chief Justice William Rehnquist and has experience as Texas solicitor general. What’s more, he’s argued nine cases before the high court.

If Cruz were to be confirmed to the Supreme Court, a special election would be held to fill his seat.

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Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...