Sen. Ted Cruz: Can Have Less Than 9 SCOTUS Justices

Sen. Ted Cruz is reportedly suggesting Republicans, if they retain the majority in the upper house, could effectively shut down any nominees to the Supreme Court offered by Hillary Clinton if she's elected president.

Legal website LawNewz.com reported a tweet by Washington Post reporter Dave Weigel hinted at the Texas lawmaker's strategy.

I asked Cruz if there should be votes on Clinton court nominees if GOP holds Senate. He said there's plenty of precedent for <9 justices.

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) October 26, 2016

According to the outlet, the Cruz response was apparently triggered by a question at an event in Colorado.

LawNewz.com noted the number of Supreme Court justices has varied through history, and that Congress has the power to set its size and responsibility. The Judiciary Act of 1789 to set the number of justices at six, which then grew to 10 by 1863, shrunk to seven in 1866 and went up to nine justices in 1869, where it's stayed ever since.

The prospect of going four years without a full nine-justice Supreme Court was not well-received by some.

@daveweigel Cruz was singing a different tune back when he thought he would be president in January https://t.co/cxHJyTMSdJ

— Seth Millstein (@SethMillstein) October 26, 2016

@daveweigel He's kind of right but history will probably judge this as kindly as shutting down the government.

— Nathan Trandem (@blacknitecrash) October 26, 2016

@daveweigel he's learned so much from campaigning... said no objective person

— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) October 26, 2016

GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona already has suggested Republicans will be united against any Supreme Court nominee put forward by Clinton if she becomes president — a statement he later walked back.