Alito Says He Considered Retirement but Will Remain on Supreme Court
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said he considered retiring after the court’s last term but decided to remain because he believed he could still make “a valuable contribution.” In interviews with CBS News and Fox News Sunday, Alito addressed speculation about when he might leave the bench while declining to set a timetable for his departure.
At 76, Alito is described in the report as the second-oldest justice on the Supreme Court, behind Clarence Thomas, 78. Both are members of its conservative bloc, and both have faced questions about retirement. Alito told Fox News Sunday he was “bemused” by the attention and said he had not calculated how many more years he would serve.
In the political setting described in the report, Republicans controlled the White House and Senate ahead of November midterm elections. A vacancy before the vote could allow President Donald Trump to nominate a successor while his party held the votes needed for confirmation. If Democrats gained control of the Senate, they could block a Trump nominee or make confirmation more difficult.
The timing of Supreme Court appointments has drawn scrutiny since Justice Antonin Scalia died in 2016. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declined to advance President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland before that year’s presidential election. Trump subsequently nominated Neil Gorsuch, who was confirmed. After Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died in 2020, McConnell moved to confirm Trump’s nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, shortly before the presidential election.
The report described the court as having a 6-3 conservative majority. It also cited national House polling and a CBS News election model indicating Democratic gains were possible, while Senate contests remained competitive. Democrats would need to gain at least four seats while retaining all their own to win a Senate majority. Those projections were not final election results.