Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas may be planning to retire soon, according to rumors in the media Wednesday.
Robert Costa reported in the Washington Post that the Trump administration was preparing for the possible retirement of Justice Clarence Thomas:
Justice Clarence Thomas, a conservative appointed by George H.W. Bush, is privately seen by Trump’s aides as the most likely to retire this year. While Thomas has not given any indication of doing so, the White House and Senate Republicans are quietly preparing for a possible opening, according to a White House official and two outside Trump political advisers who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversations.
In response to that article, Hugh Hewitt stated on the Hugh Hewitt Show that he did not believe Thomas would retire, but that he had been told Alito was considering retirement.
Hewitt said, as the Washington Examiner reported:
Hewitt suggested he learned this rumor when “people begin working the refs” this time of year.
“I’m hardly a ref, but I got a column in the Washington Post, and so they start working me about, ‘You know this person would be great if Alito quit,'” he said.
Thomas is 72 and Alito is 70 years old.
In addition, liberal justices Justices Stephen Breyer (81) and Ruth Bader Ginsburg (87) are considered candidates for retirement.
Therefore, it is possible that whoever is president for the next four years could have the opportunity to make four Supreme Court appointments.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new book, RED NOVEMBER, is available for pre-order. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.