“I’m grateful that the president has that confidence in me. But it’s not the desire of my heart. I want to be in the political fight. I want to be fighting to nominate and confirm three, four, five principled, constitutionalist justices. But that’s not where I want to serve,” Cruz said during a virtual appearance on Fox News.
“I want to stay fighting right where I am in the U.S. Senate.”
Hawley also said he has no interest in serving on the nation’s highest court. Cotton and Lee expressed openness to being nominated.
“I will always heed the call of service to our nation. The Supreme Court could use some more justices who understand the difference between applying the law and making the law, which the Court does when it invents a right to an abortion, infringes on religious freedom, and erodes the Second Amendment,” Cotton said in a statement.
Few others have commented on being included on the list.
Most of the new additions are federal judges.
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron appeared to be the only one outside the senators to issue a statement after being named as one of the 20 additions.
“It is an honor to be mentioned by President Trump today,” he said.
“I remain focused on serving the people of Kentucky and delivering on my promise to tackle child abuse, human trafficking, the drug epidemic, and other public safety challenges throughout the Commonwealth.”
The Supreme Court has nine justices. They are on the court for life. Some retire from the court while others remain on the job until death.
The oldest justices are Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 87, Stephen Breyer, 82, and Clarence Thomas, 72.
Trump had two nominations in his first term in office. Both Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch were confirmed.
Cruz warned in the new interview that one vote on the Supreme Court can make a huge difference on the state of the country.
“Four justices were prepared to take away the right to elect our president, to take it away from the voters, and to give it to unelected judges instead,” Cruz said, promoting his new book on the subject.
The 5-4 decision concluded no constitutional recount of ballots in Florida could be fashioned in time, building on the 7-2 opinion that a scheme from Florida’s Supreme Court for recounting ballots was unconstitutional.
