Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Alito Makes His Retirement Call As GOP Wipeout Raises Supreme Court Stakes
The Daily Wire ^ | November 5, 2026 | Jacob Wheeler

Posted on 11/06/2026 6:01:39 AM PST by Twotone

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito reportedly has no immediate plans to retire as conservative concerns mount over the future of the nation’s highest court following a bruising midterm wipeout that could keep Republicans out of power for years.

Tuesday’s results saw Republicans lose at least seven seats across the country, giving Democrats a larger-than-expected Senate majority. The races in Mississippi and Alaska remain too close to call.

Vice President JD Vance warned Wednesday that the heavy losses could leave the GOP shut out of Senate control until at least 2032.

“The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night,” Vance said. “If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next six years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest.”

“But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there,” he added.

A Democrat-controlled Senate could prevent President Donald Trump from securing confirmation of another conservative Supreme Court nominee. Alito, Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Clarence Thomas, are all in their 70s, making the timing of any potential retirement consequential for the court’s ideological balance.

Speculation about Alito’s future has circulated for months and Tuesday’s results threw the high court back into the spotlight. However, according to The New York Times, which spoke with people close to the justice, he has no plans to step down immediately. It’s a position he’s repeated both publicly and privately.

“I intend to stick around through this term,” Alito previously told Bloomberg News.

But in October, the 76-year-old alluded that stepping down from the bench is now an annual consideration. In an interview with CBS News chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford, Alito said he had weighed stepping down this year but chose to remain on the bench despite what Crawford characterized as “pretty intense pressure” from GOP officials eager to confirm a like-minded successor.

“I thought that I could still make a valuable contribution,” Alito said, explaining his decision to stay on the court. “It’s too hard to predict what the political situation will be, and what any president might do with respect to a replacement.”

But he also made clear that his tenure could be coming to a close. “It’s something I think that somebody at my age has to think about every term,” he said.

When Crawford asked whether the conservative jurist would reconsider retirement each year, Alito replied, “Yeah, I think I have to.”

The possibility of a 2027 vacancy highlights the stakes of the November 2026 elections. It’s unclear where the Democrat-controlled Senate would even consider a nominee from the White House. Some believe the party would likely employ the same tactics Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) used to block Merrick Garland, who was President Barack Obama’s nominee after Justice Antonin Scalia died.

“Just think what this means, having 56 [Democrat] Senators. That means no Supreme Court justice will be confirmed under President Trump’s administration unless something happens in the next six weeks,” Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis warned. “No major cabinet officials that have strong conservative credentials are going to be able to be confirmed.”


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2026wipeout; samuelalito; supremecourt
Message from Jim Robinson:

Dear FRiends,

We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.

If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:

Click here: to donate by Credit Card

Or here: to donate by PayPal

Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794

Thank you very much and God bless you,

Jim


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-24 next last

1 posted on 11/06/2026 6:01:39 AM PST by Twotone
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Twotone

We only lost because of the war if you absolve every Republican and conservative voter for being the complacent idiots that they proved themselves to be.

Yes the voters have an obligation to figure this out and act properly. You don’t really believe that Texas turned completely blue do you? Obviously the Republicans didn’t vote.

As for JD he is hardly a profile of courage.


2 posted on 11/06/2026 6:07:44 AM PST by Williams (Thank God for the election of President Trump!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Twotone
"The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night,” Vance said. “If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next six years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest."

First we should decide whether the reason is we lost the war or if the reason is we mismanaged the war.

Either way, we then can turn to the question whether "it was worth it" to have a nuclear powered Iran igniting a nuclear proliferation race in the most volatile area of the world which also happens to be where a lot of oil is found.


3 posted on 11/06/2026 6:22:52 AM PST by nathanbedford (Attack, repeat, attack! - Bull Halsey)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Twotone
Republicans lost because of

1. High fuel prices, which artificially increase the cost of everything else,

2. The mismanaged war. You don't take away nuclear weapon capability and mostly open the Strait of Hormuz just to leave them free to keep killing their population, rebuild their war machine and continue fomenting terror around the world. That's half-ass. Had President Trump let Hegseth finish the job in the timely manner it should have the war would have been finished before the mid-terms and would have stood as an accomplishment earning voters' respect.

3. Down votes and ballot amendments everywhere nearly all swayed conservative indicating that voting machines were hacked/programmed to skew data AGAIN. This should have been exposed and resolved after 2020.

That Vance is trying to solely blame the war (and for the wrong reasons) tells me he's either compromised or not intelligent enough for the highest office.

4 posted on 11/06/2026 6:26:16 AM PST by MikelTackNailer (Lead, follow or get out of the way.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Twotone

It’s odd that a Republican Senate can give us far left-wing Supreme Court Justice K. Brown . But you can never expect a Democratic Senate to give a republican president a conservative justice


5 posted on 11/06/2026 6:28:29 AM PST by ac-rep
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Twotone

Talarico for Texas

Why I’m Running

Corruption & Democracy

Taxes & Cost of Living

Public Education

Health Care

Freedom, Family & Faith

Immigration & Border Security

Social Media, AI & Tech

Public Safety & Justice

Labor & Business

Rural Investment

Foreign Policy

Energy & Environment

James Talarico speaking at Veterans roundtable in El Paso
Veterans roundtable in El Paso

Join Our fight to Take Power back for working People.

https://jamestalarico.com/issues/


6 posted on 11/06/2026 6:38:53 AM PST by Brian Griffin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Twotone

Amigos, take a look at the American cover:

https://www.economist.com/the-world-this-week/2026/10/31/cover-story-newsletter-the-americans-changing-politics-for-the-better

None of them gave a rat’s tail end about Iran.


7 posted on 11/06/2026 6:41:53 AM PST by Brian Griffin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MikelTackNailer
voting machines were hacked/programmed to skew data AGAIN.

Time to be honest, we got shellacked and it wasn't because of cheating.

8 posted on 11/06/2026 6:45:20 AM PST by tlozo (“Russia war-Either money today or blood tomorrow," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Twotone

Earlier this year I posted many times this and similar things:

There is something like $166 billion in potential tariff refunds that could be subjected to a special 100% income tax and the proceeds used to issue Gas Price Help checks (~$600 each) to owners of insured motor vehicles.

Call your Congressman’s main office now!

Tax the tariff refunds at 100%, then rebate ~$600 to each insured motor vehicle owner


9 posted on 11/06/2026 6:46:51 AM PST by Brian Griffin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Twotone

Earlier this year I posted many times this and similar things:

There is something like $166 billion in potential tariff refunds that could be subjected to a special 100% income tax and the proceeds used to issue Gas Price Help checks (~$600 each) to owners of insured motor vehicles.

Call your Congressman’s main office now!

Tax the tariff refunds at 100%, then rebate ~$600 to each insured motor vehicle owner


10 posted on 11/06/2026 6:47:13 AM PST by Brian Griffin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tlozo

“we got shellacked and it wasn’t because of cheating.”

Then explain FL.

We have secured voting and counting. Conservatives won consistent with the rest of the ballot measures. When the top of the ballot doesn’t match the rest, that needs to be explained.


11 posted on 11/06/2026 6:49:50 AM PST by Justa (Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Justa
“we got shellacked and it wasn’t because of cheating.”

Then explain FL.

Stop it. We got killed because of the price of oil, and Trump actions.

Florida GOP voters, pushed by the controversial Amendment 3 on the ballot, turned out in full force to vote on Election Day.

12 posted on 11/06/2026 6:58:00 AM PST by tlozo (“Russia war-Either money today or blood tomorrow," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: tlozo

6 years of constant inflation that stabbed you every time you filled your tank made the clueless middle who decide elections boil over. Because they are clueless they have no idea what they have done but boy are they/we going to find out. Enjoy the last two years of our country.


13 posted on 11/06/2026 7:21:58 AM PST by iamgalt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: MikelTackNailer

Vance is obviously not ready and may never be. Because they Texas Hispanics have gone totally to the dark side Rubio is the only one who has any chance at all in 28 and it is a slim chance at that.


14 posted on 11/06/2026 7:25:09 AM PST by iamgalt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: iamgalt

Rubio is Cuban, Mexicans in general don’t care for Cubans.


15 posted on 11/06/2026 7:26:49 AM PST by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Justa; tlozo
Justa writes:

“we got shellacked and it wasn’t because of cheating.”

Then explain FL.

We have secured voting and counting. Conservatives won consistent with the rest of the ballot measures. When the top of the ballot doesn’t match the rest, that needs to be explained.


In 2024, the Florida result was: Trump 56%, Harris 43%.

The 2026 results: For Senate, Ashley Moody (R) 51%, Angie Nixon (D) 48%. For Governor: Byron Donalds (R) 50%, David Jolly (D) 49%.

IOW, Florida, like much of the rest of the country, showed a marked shift toward the Democrats. Trump's 13-point margin turned into Republican wins of just 3% and 1%.

Face it, there was a genuine Democratic wave. It's wishful thinking to blame it all on machines.

As a side note, Florida might now have a Democratic Senator-elect if the Democratic primary had gone differently. Alex Vindman was a U.S. Army veteran who had served on the National Security Council. He lost the primary to Nixon, a DSA member. The more centrist Vindman would probably have been a stronger candidate in the general election than Nixon was, and that might have swung a couple percent. Florida was the wrong place for the Dems to run a DSA member, but even then, they came close to winning.
16 posted on 11/06/2026 7:40:49 AM PST by Eagle Forgotten
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator
Rubio is Cuban, Mexicans in general don’t care for Cubans.

As someone of Mexican descent, I would disagree with that, though the reverse is more true. Almost all other Hispanics look down on Mexicans. Che Guevara referred to Mexicans as a bunch of "ignorant Indians".

17 posted on 11/06/2026 8:40:04 AM PST by fidelis (Ecce Crucem Domini! Fugite partes adversae! Vicit Leo de tribu Juda, Radix David! Alleluia!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Twotone

Hopefully the DSA will turn us into a North Korea clone and give us a dictator for life so we won’t be bothered by pesky elections ever again.


18 posted on 11/06/2026 8:45:12 AM PST by MrBambaLaMamba (The only good commie is one that's dead - Country Joe McDonald. אני עומד לצד ישראל)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Twotone
conservative concerns mount over the future of the nation’s highest court

The correct concern is over the existence and structure of the Federal government as established between 1788-1791, and as altered by armed revolution 1861-1865 and political revolution 1933-37. Compared to that, the "future of the [Supreme Court] is but a trifle.

All of it is up for grabs.

19 posted on 11/06/2026 8:45:14 AM PST by Jim Noble (Assez de mensonges et des phrases)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ac-rep
It’s odd that a Republican Senate can give us far left-wing Supreme Court Justice K. Brown

It's only "odd" if you believe in the FR-imaginary GOP. With the actually existing GOP, it's just business as usual.

20 posted on 11/06/2026 8:47:04 AM PST by Jim Noble (Assez de mensonges et des phrases)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-24 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson