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Posted on 11/05/2026 10:40:59 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
The lame-duck session before January will probably be President Donald Trump’s last chance to get a high court nominee confirmed by the Senate.
The GOP’s sweeping losses in the midterm elections Tuesday set up an unsettling possibility for the party: If it doesn’t act now to confirm a new Supreme Court justice, it may not have another chance for years to come.
That prospect is likely to ramp up pressure on the court’s two oldest conservatives — Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr., 76, and Clarence Thomas, 78 — to retire during the lame-duck period, while Republicans still have the votes to get a nominee confirmed by the Senate. The new Senate, in which Democrats will hold a majority, is seated on Jan. 3.
Alito, who joined the court in 2006, said last month he has no plans to retire during the lame-duck session. Thomas has said in the past he has no plans to step down from the court. He joined the court in 1991 and could become the longest-serving justice in its history in 2028.
But given the magnitude of Democratic inroads in the Senate, legal and political experts said it could be 2033 before Republicans have a realistic shot at winning back enough seats in that chamber to approve a conservative justice.
At that point, Alito and Thomas would be well into their 80s. Neither responded to a request for comment.
“I think both are making an implicit bet that they will live long enough … so that a Republican president can replace them with someone ideologically similar,” said Ed Whelan, a conservative attorney and senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
This is likely...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
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If one of them retires and their replacement fails to be confirmed, the Democrat Congress gets to decide.
Honestly what they should do is retire in June if 2028. The election will be about the courts not about how useless Republicans are. You win you get to choose the justices. If “Republicans” want to teach a lesson with a lifetime seat then so be it. No more chances after that.
Nope, Trump just doesn’t have to nominate anyone. It’ll be a ballot question for 2028
Exactly. And that is why the CNN headline is nothing but a lie. There is a little to no chance that Trump could get an appointment approved before the new Congress convenes
Oops. It’s a Washington Post headline. Not CNN. Like there’s a difference.
Could you expand on that? It's news to me.
As said in the other thread - nope.
I said before the election I thought if the election went sour, I thought it might be possible to ram through a lame duck confirmation. But I thought “sour” would be 50/50 or maybe at worst, 49/51.
Forget it now. 54-44 (with 2 still outstanding, but not looking good). No way. You lose SC/TX/KS - and probably MS? No R Senator is going to go along.
How are they going to be pressured? Is this a threat? I thought the Democrats were going to pack the courts soon. That will pretty much end. Any chance of a republican getting elected.
And anyway, are there any legal minds out there who would be able to even partially replace Thomas and Alito?
Wishful thinking by the post.
Thune and his RINO Squad would sabotage a Trump nomination.
Count the votes VERY DAMN CAREFULLY and MAKE SURE you have them before pushing for this. Oh and as a good faith gesture, the Senate needs to immediately confirm EVERY SINGLE LAST APPOINTEE Trump has made right now.
That’s fact.
Do you mean the voters will realize the USSC is on the line and they will vote accordingly?
Yeah, its a trap.
Just never submit a name. Problem solved.
Run the Supreme Court with eight justices, if necessary. A 4-4 split should keep things stirred for a good while.
Even a Supreme Court of seven Justices, which gives a 4-3 split, may be preferable to a permanent 5-4 split.
Oh, and as for having the number of Justices on the Supreme Court reflect the number of District Courts, consolidate the number of the District from 13 down to 9, eliminating the superfluous ones.
Looking at where the Senate elections will take place in 2028, even if it ends up being more friendly to Republican Senate candidates than this election was, it is highly unlikely that the GOP will be able to flip enough seats to regain the majority. The Democrats have fewer seats to defend, and they are in states that have been more reliably Blue. Pennsylvania is a bit of a wild card, since a Democrat will certainly primary Fetterman and that could make the general election more uncertain.
They want him to try and fail so they can push their choice through.
“If one of them retires and their replacement fails to be confirmed, the Democrat Congress gets to decide.”
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Thune isn’t McConnell and will not bring anyone in for senate confirmation in the next 58 days. This is a hopium pipe dream.
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