On Tuesday's New Day on CNN, during a discussion of how the election of a President Hillary Clinton could dramatically change the U.S. Supreme Court, co-host Chris Cuomo fretted that it was "really frightening" to hear Republican Senator Ted Cruz talk about obstructing Clinton's judicial nominees and allowing the number of Supreme Court justices to remain at eight. Cuomo: "I think you got Ted Cruz laying some really frightening groundwork, saying, 'You know, eight is fine on the Court. Eight is fine.'"
At 6:14 a.m. ET, after a discussion of the expected trend toward it being more difficult for Republicans to win presidential elections in the future because increasing numbers of Hispanic voters would likely vote Democratic, CNN political analyst Ron Brownstein brought up the Supreme Court:
But in terms of the Obama legacy, one other even bigger legacy, there has not been a Democratic majority on the Supreme Court in 45 years. We have all grown up in a world where there is a conservative and Republican majority on the Supreme Court. And if Democrats win the White House, certainly if they win the Senate, even if they don't, in all likelihood, there is now going to be for the first time in 45 years they're no longer a majority on the Supreme Court.
CNN political analyst David Gregory then added: "Not lost on Republicans, which is one of the reasons they have come. A lot of Republicans who don't like Trump understand that reality, and they vote, just like people who are for gun rights vote on (inaudible)."
Cuomo then jumped in with his fears: "Right, I think you got Ted Cruz laying some really frightening groundwork, saying, 'You know, eight is fine on the Court. Eight is fine.'"
Brownstein recalled that Republican Senator John McCain had made similar comments: "Right, and John McCain. You don't have to go as far as Ted Cruz. I mean, John McCain has suggested they might not confirm them."
