Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is one of the conservative mainstays on the bench.
But rumors floated around Washington that Alito was preparing to step down.
And Samuel Alito’s retirement decision left Democrats not knowing what hit them.
Alito Staying on for Another Term
There was speculation running through conservative circles that Alito would retire at the end of this Supreme Court term, since the GOP was only guaranteed to control the Senate through this year, with control up for grabs in the midterm election.
Conservatives want to avoid a repeat of Ruth Bader Ginsburg not retiring when Obama was President and a Democrat Senate majority, which eventually allowed Trump to confirm Amy Coney Barrett as her replacement in 2020.
A vacancy this fall could also boost GOP Senate prospects, like when the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation fight in 2018 fueled the GOP flipping Democrat Senate seats in Florida, Missouri, and North Dakota despite a blue wave powering Democrats to gain 40 seats in the House.
Alito shut down the retirement talk in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
“Obviously I’m here for another term,” Alito stated.
Alito added his own mortality was on his mind, but that was a fact of life.
“It’s not pleasant, in the sense that it’s a reminder of mortality,” Alito added. “It’s like, what are those vultures doing up there? They are flying around. But it goes with life tenure.”
False Reports of Alito’s Retirement
National Public Radio’s (NPR) Nina Totenberg set off a firestorm by reporting on June 30 that Alito was retiring.
“Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, retires,” the headline of the story red.
But NPR later retracted the story after Totenberg admitted she misheard an announcement about staff retirements, causing the outlet to add an editor’s note.
“Editor’s note: NPR retracts story.” The note read. “Earlier today we erroneously published a story saying that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was retiring. He has not announced his retirement, and we have retracted the story.”
In a subsequent interview with Breitbart, Trump said he was prepared to replace Alito, but that the conservative stalwart was one of a kind.
“Well, I think you know, if you listen to people, there are three potential vacancies for various reasons, so I’m certainly prepared,” Trump declared. “There are a lot of great people out there who would like to have that position.”
“So I was in one way privileged to be able to pick somebody that would be—I’d love to pick a younger version of him, but there is no younger version of him,” Trump continued. “There’s nobody that is going to be able to do what he does and do it so well. So in one way I was happy, in one way it was actually sad.”
Alito’s retirement also shook Democrats’ confidence in winning the Senate.
If Alito thought there was any chance Democrats were going to win the majority and block Trump from replacing him so a Democrat President could eventually fill his seat, Alito likely would have retired.
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