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Retirement Talk For Alito And Thomas Gets Awkward After Democrats’ Senate Win
Retirement talk swirls around Justices Alito and Thomas after Democrats move toward control of the Senate.
Key points
- Alito, 76, has said he intends to stay through the current Supreme Court term.
- Thomas is 78, and neither justice has publicly indicated plans to retire.
- Democrats are on track to take control of the Senate in January.
Why it matters. If Republicans cannot regain the Senate for years, a Republican president might not again have a Senate majority until around 2033, when Thomas would be 84 and Alito 82.
Speculation about Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas retiring has grown after Democrats' midterm victory put them on track to take control of the Senate in January, giving them power to block President Donald Trump's judicial nominees. Alito, 76, has said he intends to stay through the current term, while Thomas is 78. Ed Whelan of the Ethics and Public Policy Center said, "Given the deep hole, that might not happen until 2033.
Latest updates
Retirement Talk For Alito And Thomas Gets Awkward After Democrats’ Senate Win
A quick exit could give Trump a chance to name successors before Democrats take control, but one legal scholar thinks the justices would balk at the optics. The post Retirement Talk For Alito And Thomas Gets Awkward After Democrats’ Senate Win appeared first on Above the Law . (Image created by ChatGPT) Ed. note : Welcome to our daily feature, Quote of the Day . Absent an acute health crisis, a decision to retire in the next several months would appear, and would in fact be, so nakedly political that I doubt Justice Alito or Thomas would take it. — Michael Dorf, a Cornell Law School professor, speaking to Reuters about the retirement speculation swirling around Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. The speculation has taken on new urgency after Democrats’ midterm victory put them on track to take control of the Senate in January, giving them the power to block President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees. Alito, 76, has said he intends to stay through the current Supreme Court term; Thomas is 78. Both are members of the court’s 6-3 conservative majority, and neither has publicly indicated plans to retire (although Alito has dropped some hints ). If Republicans cannot regain the Senate for years, Thomas would be 84 and Alito 82 by the time a Republican president might again have a Senate majority. As Ed Whelan of the Ethics and Public Policy Center put it, “Given the deep ho.