Overview
- Justice Samuel Alito told the Wall Street Journal on Friday that he will remain on the Supreme Court for at least another term, directly countering recent retirement claims.
- The statement follows an erroneous NPR report from late June that briefly said Alito was retiring and was quickly retracted after the network said reporter Nina Totenberg misheard a court announcement.
- Alito told the Journal he decides cases as he sees fit and said a high correlation between his votes and President Trump’s preferences would be acceptable if that is how he rules.
- By postponing any retirement, Alito reduces the near-term chance that President Trump could name a younger, ideologically similar successor while Republicans control the Senate.
- The episode has spurred criticism of newsroom practices over the NPR error and sharpened political attention to the stakes of the November elections for who will confirm any future Supreme Court nominees.