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Cruz: Republicans Will Have the Votes To Confirm Trump’s SCOTUS Pick Before the Election

As Senate Republicans plot their path forward on how to handle the new vacancy on the Supreme Court, some of the president’s ardent supporters are calling on the chamber to confirm a nominee before the election. Sen…

Bradley CortrightSep 20, 20203 min read

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When pressed on the fact that Biden has not explicitly said he would challenge the election, Cruz noted that Biden has hired a legal team “headed by Supreme Court advocates.”

However, Stephanopoulos noted that presidential campaigns regularly hire legal teams to look into irregularities in the results.

Still, Cruz raised concerns over the potential ramifications of having an equally divided court, “An equally divided 4-4 court can’t decide anything. That could make this presidential election drag on weeks and months and well into next year. That is an intolerable situation for the country.”

“We need a full court, on election day, given the very high likelihood that we’re going to see litigation that goes to the court. We need a Supreme Court that can give a definitive answer to the country,” he added.

While Cruz expressed optimism that Republicans will have enough votes to confirm Trump’s nominee, the road forward for Republicans appears uncertain with their narrow 53-47 seat majority.

On top of the expedited timeline for holding a confirmation vote, Republican leadership would have secure votes of senators who are facing tough re-election bids.

So far, Republican Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) andLisa Murkowski (Alaska) have already spoken out to express their belief that any confirmation vote should take place after the election.