By Erik Meers,
NewsBreak
https://www.newsbreak.com/
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has no plans to retire, dashing hopes among some Republicans that he would step down before Democrats take control of the Senate in January and allow President Donald Trump to name a younger conservative successor.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that Alito, 76, had told people close to him that he does not intend to retire immediately, despite Democrats’ sweeping Senate victories on Tuesday. On Thursday, Alito confirmed to Fox News that he is committed to serving through at least the end of the current term in late June.
The decision comes after months of speculation. In August, Alito told The Wall Street Journal he was “obviously” staying for another term, and in October he admitted to CBS News that he had “thought about” retiring and would reconsider each year.
Alito made clear before the election that the results would not change his plans. “I intend to stick around through this term,” he told Bloomberg News when the court opened its new session in October.
He also said he would stay even if Democrats captured the Senate. “I made that decision many months ago,” he said. Asked whether he was a “firm no” on retiring during a lame-duck Congress, Alito replied, “Yeah.”
Alito has acknowledged the pressure to step aside, telling the Journal that the retirement talk is “not pleasant” because “it’s a reminder of mortality.”
“It’s like, what are those vultures doing up there?” he said.
Speculation about his future peaked in June, when NPR’s Nina Totenberg published, then retracted, a report that Alito was retiring.
The decision means Trump may not get another chance to shape the high court. With Democrats in control of the Senate starting in January, any nominee would face a steep path to confirmation.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned on election night that the “chance of confirming a worthy successor to Justice Thomas and/or Alito during President Trump’s term” was now “zero.” He added that the odds were “probably zero” even under a Republican president from 2029 to 2033, arguing the GOP would not win back enough seats in 2028.
Conservative legal analyst Ed Whelan wrote that Trump is now effectively blocked from appointing federal judges or Supreme Court justices for the rest of his term. Georgetown Law professor Steve Vladeck put the odds of Alito or Justice Clarence Thomas, 78, stepping down quickly at “close to nil.”
Some conservatives have drawn comparisons to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whose decision not to retire while Democrats controlled Washington allowed Trump to fill her seat in 2020.
Trump has publicly said he wants both justices to remain on the court. “I hope they stay,” he told Politico earlier this year. “‘Cause I think they’re fantastic.”
Alito, whom President George W. Bush appointed in 2006, wrote the 2022 majority opinion overturning Roe v. Wade. He will be 78 when the 2028 presidential election is decided.
Source: uPolitics
