Since yesterday’s huge announcement that there will now be an open Supreme Court seat, giving President Donald Trump a second pick for the bench, elected Democrats have been arguing that voters have not had the opportunity to be heard on the issue, and that no nominee should get confirmed or even hearings until after the November election. On Fox and Friends, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) begged to differ. 
 
 Host Steve Doocy asked Sen. Cruz to weigh in, saying “[Sen.]Chuck Schumer [D-NY] says they should put this off until after the election so the people have spoken.” 
 
 “Of course Chuck Schumer is saying that,” he said. “The Democrats are lighting their hair on fire, they are apoplectic.” 
 
 One democrat, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), went viral on Twitter over the last 24 hours for saying exactly that. Speaking to MSNBC in a clip she later posted on Twitter, Harris said the Supreme Court seat will have “a generational impact” and that “the American people should be able to weigh in on who will be in this position.” 
 
 Ted Cruz says that Supreme Court appointments were “a major issue” in 2016, and argues that the American people already have weighed in on it. He illustrated this in a striking fashion. 
 
 “I believe if Justice [Antonin] Scalia had not passed away when he did, there’s a very good possibility Hillary Clinton would be president of the United States right now.” 
 
 In other words, the voters were deciding against Hillary having the chance to fill Scalia’s seat, choosing Trump instead. 
 
 After the court decision on Trump’s travel ban, Buzzfeed’s breaking news editor David Mack said on Twitter that he was “constantly stunned the open SCOTUS seat wasn’t more of an issue” during the 2016 election. 
 
 Cruz is saying just the opposite. 
 
 “This was a major issue the American people decided, it’s a major reason we have President Trump and we have a Republican majority in the Senate,” he said. 
 
 Among conservatives this was, without question, a deciding factor in 2016. Many Republicans and conservatives otherwise skeptical of Trump voted for him on the basis of ensuring a GOP pick for the court, if not two. Senator Cruz is absolutely correct, and it’s something Joe Scarborough also pointed out this morning on MSNBC. Perhaps David Mack saw something different in liberal circles, but on the center right and right, it was one of the singular issues of the campaign and helped define the election. 
 
 And now it may define Trump. 
 
 Cruz said at the beginning of the clip that this appointment “could well prove to be the most significant thing Donald Trump does in his entire time in office,” and judging by the Democrats above, on that point there is little disagreement. 
 
 Watch the clip above, courtesy of Fox News. 
 
 [Featured image via screengrab] 
 
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 Sen. Ted Cruz Rafael (Ted) Edward CruzNorth Korea has no intention of giving up its nukes — and now we have proof The Hill's Morning Report — Sponsored by Better Medicare Alliance — Dramatic battle looms after Kennedy’s retirement Overnight Health Care: Anti-abortion groups see chance to overturn Roe v. Wade with Kennedy retirement | HHS watchdog to probe detention center conditions | VA pick vows to oppose privatization MORE (R-Texas) on Wednesday touted his Republican colleague Sen. Mike Lee Michael (Mike) Shumway LeeSenate passes mammoth farm bill Trump has asked advisers about nominating Mike Lee to Supreme Court: report The Hill's Morning Report — Sponsored by Better Medicare Alliance — Dramatic battle looms after Kennedy’s retirement MORE (Utah) as the "best choice" to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by Justice Anthony Kennedy's retirement announcement. 
 
 "I think the single best choice President Trump Donald John TrumpCanadian prime minister commemorates victims of Maryland newspaper shooting Trump suggested to Macron that France should leave the EU: report Maryland newspaper writer in emotional interview: 'We need more than prayers' MORE could make to fill this vacancy is Sen. Mike Lee," Cruz said on Fox News shortly after Kennedy's announcement. "I think he would be extraordinary." 
 
 ICYMI on @FoxNews: "I think the single best choice that President Trump could make to fill this #SCOTUS vacancy is @SenMikeLee" pic.twitter.com/VKhg4IPnSD — Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) June 27, 2018 
 
 Lee, who, like Cruz, sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters on Wednesday that he would not "say no" if Trump asked him to succeed Kennedy on the bench. 
 
 "I started watching Supreme Court arguments for fun when I was 10 years old. So if somebody asked me if I would consider that, I would not say no," Lee said. "But the president’s got a decision to make and I trust his ability to make it and make it well." 
 
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 The Utah Republican is on the list of 25 candidates that the White House published in November to potentially be nominated to the Supreme Court. 
 
 It will be Trump's second nomination since taking office, after he appointed Justice Neil Gorsuch to the bench last year months after being elected. 
 
 Cruz said that part of his reasoning for supporting Lee is because he knows that Lee would continue to advocate for conservative positions. 
 
 "About half of the nominees that Republican presidents have put on the court have turned into train wrecks, have turned into liberal activists," Cruz said. "I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Mike Lee would be faithful to the Constitution and Bill of Rights." 
 
 Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellSenate passes legislation to legalize hemp as agricultural commodity On The Money: Economic growth slows to 2 percent in Q1 | Trump fires up feud with Harley-Davidson | Kentucky bourbon targeted in Trump trade war | Trump nominee vows to restore 'trust' in IRS Congress must hold senior Myanmar military officials accountable MORE (R-Ky.) said on Wednesday that the Senate would vote on a new nominee for the Supreme Court in the fall. But many Democratic lawmakers slammed that statement as hypocritical and urged the GOP leader to wait until after the November midterm elections to hold hearings. 

 Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) appeared on "Fox & Friends" on Thursday to react to the impending retirement of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. 
 
 Without Kennedy - who is often seen as a voice of moderation over three decades - the court will be split between four liberal justices and four conservatives, and the next President Trump pick. 
 
 "This could well prove to be the most significant thing President Trump does in his entire time in office. This could prove to be the most significant thing the Republican Senate does," Cruz said. "This is an opportunity for President Trump to nominate a strong constitutionalist, which could be his single greatest legacy 20, 30, 40 years from now." 
 
 He argued that the previous Supreme Court vacancy - created by the sudden death of Antonin Scalia - was a major motivating factor for Republican voters. 
 
 Cruz: 'We Should Confirm SCOTUS Pick Before Election', Suggests Mike Lee 
 
 Schumer Demands Congress Use 'Biden Rule' in Choosing Kennedy Replacement 
 
 "I believe if Justice Scalia had not passed away when he did that there's a very good possibility Hillary Clinton would be President of the United States right now," Cruz said. 
 
 Cruz was responding to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's call for the "Biden rule" to be used, which would delay a nomination until after the November midterm elections. Cruz said "of course" Schumer would make such a demand, but argued that voters decided the issue in the 2016 presidential election. 
 
 He said Americans want justices who will defend the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, while Democrats want "judicial activists." 
 
 "They want liberal extremists who will force their partisan agenda on the country," Cruz said. "Most of us don't want to be governed by five unelected lawyers in Washington." 
 
 Cruz reiterated a point he made on "The Daily Briefing" on Wednesday, and suggested that President Trump nominate his good friend and fellow senator Mike Lee of Utah. 
 
 Watch the "Fox & Friends" segment above. 
 
 Judge Nap: The Key Issue After Justice Kennedy's Retirement Will Be Abortion 
 
 McConnell Triumphantly Tweets Photo With Gorsuch After SCOTUS Upholds Travel Ban 
 
 Wallace: Replacing Justice Kennedy Will Be 'Biggest Moment of the Trump Presidency' 
 
 'Admit How Wrong You Were': Hannity Rips 'Never-Trumpers' as Second SCOTUS Spot Opens
– Justice Anthony Kennedy’s announcement that he will retire, giving President Trump a second Supreme Court pick, has set off a flurry of debate about the direction of the court. If Kennedy, a swing voter, is replaced by a strongly conservative justice, that justice could shape the court’s decisions for decades to come. Democrats are arguing that the selection should be delayed until after the midterm elections so that voters are heard on the issue, pointing out that when Justice Antonin Scalia died, Republicans blocked a replacement until after the 2016 presidential election for that very same reason. But Texas Sen. Ted Cruz believes voters already have weighed in on the matter, reports Mediate. Cruz believes Scalia's death swayed voters to vote for now-President Trump in the 2016 election so that Trump, not then-President Obama or Hillary Clinton, would be the one to replace Scalia—that Trump's win was a referendum on the court. “I believe if Justice Scalia had not passed away when he did, there’s a very good possibility Hillary Clinton would be president of the United States right now,” he told Fox & Friends Thursday. "This was a major issue the American people decided, it’s a major reason we have President Trump and we have a Republican majority in the Senate." Cruz is backing Utah Sen. Mike Lee as Kennedy's replacement. "I think he would be extraordinary," Cruz told Fox News, per the Hill.