Should Justice Samuel Alito retire from the Supreme Court? Is he about to? Maureen Groppe of USA Today rounds up commentary on the question, and other outlets have run similar efforts. It’s mostly pretty thin gruel, based on Alito having a book coming out in October (after the Court’s new term starts) instead of September, and based on him having passed the milestone of 20 years on the Court. Articles like this are sometimes written on thin evidence because the writer knows something he or she can’t print, or is trying to will a thing into happening. But sometimes, they’re just hunting for content. At a certain point, you can just run stories on the existence of rumors you started.
Publicly hectoring the justices into retiring is typically not effective, and can backfire. Alito has never given any indication of being the sort of man who is easily pushed around into doing things he doesn’t want to do. That’s especially the case where there’s no question of infirmity or diminished competence. Alito is still as sharp and incisive in arguments and opinions as he’s ever been. He’s still the justice an advocate least wants to be grilled by — the one who most frequently extracts concessions or flustered non-answers at argument that end up getting used against the lawyer’s client in a majority opinion. He’s still at the top of his game. There’s never been any public indication of health problems — unlike with Justice Clarence Thomas, who was hospitalized for a week in 2022, I can’t recall Alito ever having to miss time at the Court.
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