I’m not worried. There will be an empty seat until after the election - or there will be hell to pay for the Senate breaking the promise to hold off until the next President can nominate their candidate. And there is no one in the Senate will balls enough to deny Cruz the SC. They have no reason other than their personal dislike of him and that won’t fly with his background.
Besides - they’ll be happy to be rid of Cruz in the Senate.
I like the idea of Cruz as Solicitor General. Why?
Christie was likely already promised the AG position.
Cruz is a superb litigator, and he’ll whack the balls that Christie pitches to him (like a Clinton espionage case) right out of the park.
Cruz can also be given the task of picking nominees for ALL judicial positions. He recommends 2 or 3 for each position, POTUS Trump picks one. Before very long (2-3 years), Cruz goes to the USSC. Maybe Roberts even gets pushed out, and Cruz becomes the CJ.
Perhaps.. until he turns over some judgement they liked.