Alito Reportedly Won't Retire Immediately as Democrats Poised to Take Senate in January

Justice Samuel Alito, 76, has told people close to him that he does not plan to retire from the Supreme Court immediately, despite Democrats' win in Senate contests on Tuesday, according to two anonymous people close to the justice. He shared his plans with friends once the results were clear and does not intend to step down before the end of the court's term. Democrats are set to take the Senate in January, so Republicans will hold it only briefly. That may have closed the window for President Donald Trump to name a fourth or fifth justice, and the lame-duck session is likely his last chance to win confirmation of a nominee. Speculation had centered on Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas. John Thune told two interviewers he would not rule out a lame-duck confirmation, saying it could be done in the roughly 60 days after the election.

The left-leaning New York Times leads with Alito's decision, built on his friends' accounts, while the Washington Post stresses that GOP losses will raise pressure on conservative justices to retire and calls the lame-duck session Trump's last opportunity. Neither excerpt mentions Thune's idea. The right-leaning Townhall starts from worry about Democratic majorities and spotlights Thune's remarks, with a headline calling his plan a problem. It attacks him over the Save America Act and the filibuster, says Alito will probably have to rethink retirement, and says the GOP's next chance to retake Congress is 2032. Both sides see the Democratic takeover as a threat to the conservative majority and the lame duck as the key window. They differ in that the left reports Alito's stated intention and pressure on the justices, while the right dwells on intraparty criticism of Thune. Reason largely echoes the Times, adding its author's prediction that neither Alito nor Thomas retires this term.