The Supreme Court opened its new Term on Monday, which means it’s time once again for another entry into legal media’s favorite pastime: Is Sam Alito going to retire? This round of speculation didn’t come from a column in The Nation or a misheard announcement in the courtroom. It came from Alito himself.
On a media tour timed to the release of his book, So Ordered: An Originalist’s View of the Constitution, the Court, and Our Country (the source of last year’s retirement rumors), Alito told CBS News’s Jan Crawford that he thought about retiring at the end of last Term but decided he “could still make a valuable contribution.” He then made sure nobody got too comfortable, noting, “It’s something that I think that somebody at my age has to think about every Term.”
Asked if he’d keep revisiting the question, he answered, “Yeah, I think I have to.” On Fox News Sunday, in the same sit-down where he told Shannon Bream he knows who leaked Dobbs, he said he’s been “bemused by the retirement speculation.” He added that “it’s not too pleasant to look up and see the vultures circling,” and that “it would be foolhardy to make a calculation [that] I’m going to serve for a certain number of additional years.”
That’s a lot of retirement talk from a man who isn’t retiring.
Of course, none of this changes anything about the current Term. Alito already settled that back in August, when he told the Wall Street Journal “[o]bviously I’m here for another Term” and complained (again) about the “vultures” circling his seat. That came after months of rumor mill activity and NPR briefly publishing Nina Totenberg’s prewritten retirement story on the last day of the Term because she misheard an announcement about retiring court staff. Even back in 2024, after his drafts were so far afield that he lost two majorities, he reportedly reflected in private about retirement.
But the dangling nature of, “maybe next year, we’ll see” (four weeks before an election that will decide which party controls the Senate that would confirm his replacement) is new. It’s like he’s throwing it out there to motivate conservative voters in the midterms. Hell, Alito even told CBS that timing a departure is a challenge because “it’s too hard to predict what the political situation will be and what any president might do with respect to a replacement.” After last year’s non-retirement blocked the GOP’s ability to fill the seat with young MAGA blood (this spring, the Senate was “prepared” to confirm a replacement quickly), putting his seat on the ballot — in a tightening midterm year — is the next best thing.
Earlier: Samuel Alito Sees ‘Vultures’ Circling His Supreme Court Seat But Has No Plans To Retire
Sam Alito Rings In The New Term By Telling Fox News He Knows Who Leaked Dobbs
NPR Reports Sam Alito Retires From Supreme Court (Spoiler Alert: He Did Not)
The Alito Retirement Rumor Mill Is Swirling
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Bluesky @Kathryn1
