Key conservative SCOTUS justice confirms that he is considering retirement
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is considering retirement, according to new comments. This could pave the way for President Donald Trump to potentially appoint a replacement, if it occurs before the end of this presidential term.
by Summer Lane | October 16, 2026
President Donald Trump may have an opportunity to appoint another Supreme Court justice before the end of his term if one key justice retires before 2029.
In recent comments, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito confirmed he is considering retirement.
Alito made the remarks to CBS News in an upcoming interview set to air in full next week.
The justice said that he considered retiring this year, amid pressure from Republicans who currently control the Senate.
“It’s something that I think that somebody at my age has to think about every term,” he told the outlet. “But I thought that I could still make a valuable contribution, which is why I became a justice and a judge in the first place.”
Alito is 76 years old. When asked if he would continually consider retirement, he remarked, “Yeah, I think I have to.”
CBS News chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford pressed him on his thoughts regarding whether his work on the court could potentially be undone by the next appointment – depending on who it is, and who appoints him or her.
The justice said that it was simply “too hard to predict what the political situation will be and what any president might do with respect to a replacement” when he chooses to retire.
On Truth Social, President Trump took note of Alito’s comments about a potential retirement, commenting, “A great man!!!”
During his first term in office, President Trump appointed a whopping three Supreme Court justices to the bench: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.
The president has criticized those appointments this year, as the Supreme Court justices he appointed ruled against him on a cornerstone of his administration earlier this year: tariffs.
“These are not the people I spoke to when I selected candidates for the Supreme Court of the United States,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social, at the time. “They are only a shadow of themselves from those days.”
Photo: Pixabay
