Republican senators may have one last Hail Mary ahead of this year’s midterm elections: Samuel Alito.
Right-wing lawmakers are quietly prodding the 76-year-old Supreme Court justice toward the exit in the lead-up to what’s shaping up to be an all-but-doomed Election Day for the GOP, The Hill reported Monday.
Members of Donald Trump’s party are hoping a Supreme Court vacancy could energize voters and help GOP senators cling to their narrow, three-seat majority. Now, Republicans appear to be looking to the George W. Bush-appointed justice as a glimmer of hope—banking on a potential, well-timed retirement.
“If we did have a Supreme Court vacancy, obviously that would be a galvanizing issue for Republicans,” GOP Sen. John Cornyn told the outlet. The Supreme Court did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The president’s approval rating has fallen to a dismal 37 percent, with two-thirds of voters holding a negative view of his presidency. In turn, his party’s favorability has also slid, with multiple polls pointing to a potential blue wave in November.
In 2018, a drawn-out battle to confirm Trump-appointed Justice Brett Kavanaugh is believed to have helped mobilize Republican voters in the midterm elections. The president himself also appears poised to jump into action, telling Maria Bartiromo during a recent interview on Fox Business that he could name “two, could be three” justices if the opportunity presented itself.
“You reach a certain age and you give up your seat if you have the president… so that your ideology, your policies, your everything would be of the kind that we like,” said Trump, who is three years older than Alito.
Earlier this month, CNN reported that Alito was taken to a hospital after becoming unwell at a Federalist Society dinner in Philadelphia—spurring calls for him to retire. Alito has served on the court for two decades.
But the GOP’s hopes for such an outcome may be ill-fated. Sources close to Alito told CBS over the weekend that the conservative heavyweight is staying put. Also reportedly staying put is his conservative comrade, 77-year-old Clarence Thomas, who was appointed by former president George H. W. Bush in 1991.
Trump has already made his mark on the court by appointing Neil Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett during his first term, cementing a 6–3 conservative majority. Thomas and Alito, however, are among the justices most reliably aligned with the Trump administration.
Alito, meanwhile, made headlines Monday after failing to participate in three decisions announced that day.
