There’s a growing movement from groups trying to force some U.S. Supreme Court justices into retirement—but, so far, it’s not working.
Justice Samuel Alito recently revealed that he has no plans to step down from the nation’s highest court.
“Despite what some people may think, this is a man who has never thought about this job from a political perspective,” said one person close to Alito. “The idea that he’s going to retire for political considerations is not consistent with who he is.”
Sources who spoke to the Wall Street Journal “tamped down speculation among legal activists that the 74-year-old jurist was readying to retire so that President Donald Trump could fill his seat with a younger conservative.”
Some have also pushed for liberal Justice Sotomayor to retire. She’s the third-oldest judge on the nine-member bench and has long been public about living her life with type 1 diabetes.
Sources told the BBC that Sotomayor does not plan to go anywhere.
“This is no time to lose her important voice on the court,” one person told the Wall Street Journal, adding that she “takes better care of herself than anyone I know. She’s in great health, and the court needs her now more than ever,” a source said.
Earlier this year, Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders acknowledged to NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he had heard “a little bit” of talk about Sotomayor being asked to step aside but said calls for her to resign are not “sensible.”
The three eldest justices on the Supreme Court are in their 70s, and the election of Trump last week sparked new debates about the court’s future.
Republicans will be able to replace vacancies without having to reach an agreement with Democrats for at least two years since they control both the Senate and the White House.
Republicans have argued that it would be wise for Alito, who was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2006, and Justice Clarence Thomas, who is 76 and was appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1991, to resign in favor of younger candidates who could continue the court’s conservative stance for many years to come.
According to public opinion studies, most Americans believe that the Supreme Court is politically biased. However, according to those with knowledge of the situation, the justices of all ideological stripes want to view themselves as separate from partisan politics, and Washington’s postelection chitchat is becoming annoying within the court.
Trump appointed three justices in his first term, solidifying the conservatives’ 6-3 majority on the court.
Alito has played a pivotal role in the rise of conservatism. He authored the opinion in 2022 that overturned Roe v. Wade, which had established women’s right to an abortion before fetal viability in 1973, fulfilling a long-standing objective that had previously been thought unachievable.
According to many who know him, Alito is doing well, loves what he does, and has more to offer the jurisprudence of the court.
According to persons familiar with the situation, Alito has already hired one legal clerk for the 2025–2026 term and will hire his full complement of four in the upcoming months.
Since justices are appointed for life, any vacancy could have an effect on the law for a generation. In recurrent elections, neither Democrats nor Republicans want to stake their share of the court’s composition on the whims of the electorate or the health of a justice.
The death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in September 2020, which left Trump with a crucial seat to fill in the last months of his first term, hangs over the talks.
In the early 2010s, when President Barack Obama could have had a nominee confirmed by a majority Democratic Senate, Ginsburg resisted appeals from liberals to retire and passed away at the age of 87.
The court received the necessary votes to overturn Roe when Trump replaced her with Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
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