Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito confirms he is considering retirement

WASHINGTON, DC: Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has confirmed he is considering retirement, raising the possibility that he could step down after next year's term and give President Trump the opportunity to nominate a fourth justice to the court.

Alito said in excerpts of a CBS News interview released Friday that he thought about retiring this year and will do so again in 2027.

Samuel Alito weighs retirement from Supreme Court

“It’s something that I think that somebody at my age has to think about every term,” the 76-year-old said in the interview scheduled to air Monday.

“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.”

The interview, the first in a series planned around the launch of his book on judicial philosophy, brings new focus to the question of whether Trump could get another Supreme Court pick.

His earlier nominees have already pushed the court to the right. Lately, Trump has grown openly frustrated with some of his own appointees for ruling against him.

If Democrats win the Senate in the midterms, securing a fourth nominee would not get any easier for him.

Alito, in the CBS interview, pushed back on concerns that the timing of his retirement and his replacement could potentially unravel his work on the bench.

“It’s too hard to predict what the political situation will be and what any president might do with respect to a replacement,” he said.

Alito defends his Dobbs opinion and its personal toll

Alito also defended his majority opinion in June 2022 that struck down Roe v. Wade and overturned the constitutional protections for abortion that had prevailed for decades. The decision closely matched one that had leaked a month earlier.

“We didn’t know it when we produced the draft that was leaked, but it required courage to go ahead with that because of the implications,” he said.

“That’s something you have to live with,” he said, adding, “It’s part of the job that you’re going to displease people by making decisions on controversial matters, because one side or the other is going to really dislike you because of the decisions.”

He said the decision resulted in the loss of old friendships.

Alito hasn’t promised when he’ll retire, but he made clear that retirement remains something he is seriously considering. He is expected to revisit the question in 2027.

For now, Alito stays on the Supreme Court, standing by his past decisions and sticking to his own timetable when it comes to considering retirement.