Samuel Alito says he considered retirement but chose to remain on the court

Samuel Alito retirement speculation gained new detail after the Supreme Court justice said he considered leaving following the court’s last term but decided to stay. For people following Washington policy and the election, the key point is that Alito did not announce a departure, while any future vacancy would require Senate approval of a successor.

Alito, 76, told CBS News that he believed he could still make “a valuable contribution,” according to CNBC and Politico. Politico reported that he said a person his age has to consider retirement at the end of each term and that he expects to revisit the question in 2027.

The remarks are more limited than a retirement plan. Alito has not set a date to leave the court. In a separate interview with Fox News Sunday, CNBC reported, he said he had no calculation for how many additional years he would serve and called it foolhardy to plan around a fixed tenure.

Why would Senate control affect a Samuel Alito retirement?

A Supreme Court justice is nominated by the president, but the Senate must confirm the nominee. CNBC reported that Republicans controlled both the White House and Senate when Alito spoke. If Democrats win Senate control after the midterm elections, they could make it harder, or potentially impossible, for President Donald Trump to confirm a nominee to replace a departing justice.

That confirmation process is why the timing of a possible vacancy has become part of the midterm political debate. Politico reported that Alito said it was difficult to predict either the political environment or how a president would approach a replacement.

CNBC said Democrats would need to gain at least four Senate seats while holding all of their current seats to secure a majority. That result remains an electoral possibility, not a decision by Alito about his own tenure.

What would a future vacancy mean for the court?

The Supreme Court currently has a 6-3 conservative majority, CNBC reported. Alito is the court’s second-oldest justice. Justice Clarence Thomas, 78, is the oldest member of the court and has also been the subject of retirement speculation, according to CNBC.

Recent vacancies show why Senate control can shape the court’s membership. CNBC reported that then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declined to take up President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland after Justice Antonin Scalia died in 2016. Trump later nominated Neil Gorsuch. After Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died in 2020, the Senate confirmed Trump nominee Amy Coney Barrett shortly before that year’s presidential election, CNBC reported.

For now, Alito’s comments establish that he weighed retirement after the last term and chose against it. They do not establish that he will retire next year or at any other specified time.

This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.