{"id":36667,"date":"2026-02-17T15:39:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T18:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2026\/02\/17\/all-the-telltale-clues-a-top-supreme-court-justice-is-considering-an-exit-that-could-grant-trump-sweeping-power\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T15:39:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T18:39:00","slug":"all-the-telltale-clues-a-top-supreme-court-justice-is-considering-an-exit-that-could-grant-trump-sweeping-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2026\/02\/17\/all-the-telltale-clues-a-top-supreme-court-justice-is-considering-an-exit-that-could-grant-trump-sweeping-power\/","title":{"rendered":"All the telltale clues a top Supreme Court justice is considering an exit that could grant Trump sweeping power"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By JON MICHAEL RAASCH, US POLITICAL REPORTER<\/a> <\/span><\/a> <\/p>\n

Published:<\/span>

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A Supreme Court<\/a> justice nominated by a Republican president is showing signs that he may retire.<\/p>\n

Justice Samuel Alito, 75, who has served on the Supreme Court since January 2006 after being nominated by President George W Bush, is speculated to be considering retirement.<\/p>\n

He recently celebrated 20 years on the court at the end of January – a milestone achieved by just a fraction of justices.<\/p>\n

The typical term has averaged around 16 years, though since the 1970s, with improvements in medicine, the typical tenure can extend much longer.According to historic averages, justices tend to retire in their late seventies to early eighties.<\/p>\n

That’s ‘usually a very good milestone on which to retire,’ Mellisa Murray, a legal scholar and law professor at NYU, recently said on the Strict Scrutiny podcast.<\/p>\n

Also to be considered: the impending midterm<\/a>elections.<\/p>\n

Republicans are expected to take a beating in the November elections.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump<\/a> has signaled his worries repeatedly, perhaps at nauseam, noting multiple times this year how the midterms are typically won by the party that does not hold the presidency – a historically correct nod to how voters almost always reward the party out of power with additional seats in Congress<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Some legal experts are speculating that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito may retire soon, given the strange timing of his upcoming book release<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Alito (front row second from right) has served on the court since January 2006 after being nominated by President George W Bush. Here the justices are pictured in 2022<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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NYU Law professor Melissa Murray also noted how the midterms could prompt Alito to retire early so that Republicans can put a conservative in his vacated seat<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

If Alito were to retire this year, while Republicans still maintain control of Congress – and therefore the Supreme Court nominating process – the justice, the president, and GOP leaders on Capitol Hill could easily replace the outgoing judge with a Republican.<\/p>\n

‘If you retire before you lose the Senate, then you make the whole glide path so much easier for getting in your preferred candidate,’ Murray said. ‘Do it before the midterms change everything.’<\/p>\n

The maneuver would almost certainly seal conservative control over the high court for years to come.<\/p>\n

‘This is obviously someone that wants to ensure that he is replaced by a like-minded successor,’ said Murray.<\/p>\n

Alito also has a forthcoming book expected to be published in October 2026, a time that is typically busy for Supreme Court justices.<\/p>\n

To plan a book release during a frantic beginning-of-year work season, when justices are expected to hear oral arguments, appears curious.<\/p>\n

‘The publication for his forthcoming book …. published during the first week of October term 2026 … that is usually a time when sitting justices are quite busy,’ Murray shared.<\/p>\n

‘Which means it’s not exactly a great time to release your book if you want to promote said book.’<\/p>\n

Georgetown University law professor Steve Vladeck also expressed surprise at the timing, noting how it’s ‘a pretty big tell since one cant exactly go on a book tour during the first argument session of the term.’<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court did not immediately respond to the Daily Mail’s request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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By JON MICHAEL RAASCH, US POLITICAL REPORTER Published: 11:45 EST, 17 February 2026 | Updated: 13:39 EST, 17 February 2026 A Supreme Court justice nominated by a Republican president is showing signs that he may retire. Justice Samuel Alito, 75, who has served on the Supreme Court since January 2006 after being nominated by President […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36668,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-donald-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}