Midterm Rout Closes Trump’s Window on the Supreme Court

Aging conservative justices now face the prospect that Republicans won’t control the confirmation process for many years

WASHINGTON—President Trump put three justices on the Supreme Court during his first term. On Tuesday, voters all but guaranteed that he won’t get a fourth.

Democrats’ midterm blowout gave them a Senate majority—with a several-seat cushion—that will make it easy to block Trump judicial nominees, especially for any Supreme Court vacancies that might arise in 2027 or 2028.

That prospect casts new uncertainty over the long-term sustainability of the high court’s 6-3 conservative majority, as well as the legacies of the two oldest and most conservative justices: Clarence Thomas, 78, and Samuel Alito, 76.

Both men chose not to retire earlier this year, when Trump and the Republican-controlled Senate could have replaced them with young, like-minded conservatives. Now, it could be many years before the GOP regains simultaneous control of the White House and the Senate.

Michael Fragoso, a former chief counsel to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), said Alito would have been more likely than Thomas to weigh the political risks of remaining on the court.

“Whether he regrets it or should regret it, he made a choice. And now he’s going to be there for the next 10 years,” Fragoso said.

Some legal observers have floated a last-ditch scenario in which Thomas or Alito could announce their retirement in the coming days and give Trump and the outgoing Republican Senate a chance to quickly install a successor before the newly elected Congress is seated on Jan. 3.

That is exceedingly unlikely. A person close to Alito said the justice’s statements earlier this year about his plans to remain on the court still stand after...

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Thomas is 80 yrs old, either he should leave now and get him replaced with a 50 yr old or hope he remains healthy til God willing we have a chance to take back the senate..but heck the DSA wants the Supreme Court abolished anyway so either way the supreme court is gone

I honestly had hopes prior to the results that if the Senate went sour, it would only be 50/50 bad and a lame duck confirmation would still be possible.

Hate on the Tillis and the Cornyn and Marshall and etc all you want - but I figured a younger Alito (sterling credentials, long judicial career before SCOTUS)? It would have needed to be a STERLING choice, the sort that only gets law nerds excited.

But yeah, not now. When SC, MS, KS, TX, etc fall? Now, suddenly, the R Senators in safe red states worry about 2028.

Sending vitamins and exercise tips to both Sam and Clarence because they need to stick around until at least 2029. Maybe worse.

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