Justice Samuel Alito has revealed that he seriously considered stepping down from the Supreme Court at the conclusion of his most recent term.
Alito made the admission during an interview with CBS News chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford, addressing months of speculation surrounding his future on the bench.
Crawford asked Alito directly whether he had considered retiring amid what she described as “some pretty intense pressure from Republicans” eager to confirm his replacement while the GOP held the Senate.
“I thought about it,” Alito said, adding, “Well, it’s something I think that somebody at my age has to think about every term.”
Alito clarified his reasoning for ultimately deciding to stay, saying he “thought that I could still make a valuable contribution, which is why I became a justice and a judge in the first place.”
He also acknowledged that retirement would remain a recurring consideration, noting he would “have to” continue thinking about it every year going forward.
Crawford pressed further, asking whether delaying retirement could “risk undoing all the work that you have done here at the court,” drawing a comparison to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Alito responded cautiously, saying “it’s too hard to predict how, for anybody and particularly when you reach a certain age, what your situation will” be.
Speculation about Alito’s future intensified last August after NPR published and subsequently retracted an article claiming he planned to retire at the conclusion of the court’s 2025-26 term.
The timing of any Supreme Court retirement carries enormous political weight, as the party in power can reshape the court’s ideological direction for decades through a single appointment.
With President Trump holding roughly two more years in office, Republicans have been eager to move quickly, given that a Democratic Senate majority after the midterms could complicate any confirmation effort.
An Alito retirement would give Trump the opportunity to appoint a fourth justice to the nation’s highest court, further cementing a conservative supermajority.
Alito was originally nominated to the Supreme Court by then-President George W. Bush in the fall of 2005 and was seated on the bench in January 2006, making him one of the court’s longest-serving justices.
His comments signal that while retirement is on his mind, he remains committed to the role for now, leaving both parties to watch closely as the current term unfolds.
