MAGA VULTURES

SCOTUS Justices Rebuff Desperate MAGA Pleas

Conservatives Clarence Thomas, 78, and Samuel Alito, 76, have Republicans on edge.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito are ignoring MAGA’s desperate pleas to step down before Democrats take a commanding Senate majority in January.

Thomas, 78, and Alito, 76, say this week’s blue wave “had no bearing on their thinking, and they have not changed their minds,” CBS News reports.

The justices previously said they have no plans to retire, but it will still enrage conservatives who have been clamoring for the justices to call it quits before January 3, when the 120th U.S. Congress is scheduled to convene at midday.

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MAGA figures have pushed the rapid resign-and-appoint scheme in hopes that President Donald Trump can select a replacement the Senate can confirm while it is still a 53-47 split in favor of Republicans. In theory, conservatives hope a younger justice would outlive their predecessors and a potential Democratic presidency starting in 2029 and beyond.

Alito and Thomas are reportedly having none of it.

Alito, who was appointed to the Court in 2005 by George W. Bush, told Bloomberg News last month he planned “to stick around through this term.” A month prior, he told The Wall Street Journal, “Obviously I’m here for another term.”

Thomas, who was appointed to the Court in July 1991 by President George H. W. Bush, has been quieter about his future on the court, but has long scoffed at suggestions that he should retire. He has served on the bench for 35 years and, if he serves through May 2028, he will set the record as the longest-serving justice in SCOTUS history.

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Neither justice has any serious health issues, but both have had health scares in recent years. Thomas was hospitalized for several days in March 2022 after experiencing flu-like symptoms. Alito became ill at an event in Philadelphia in March and was treated by a physician for dehydration, but he was able to return to work the following Monday.

Thomas and Alito are the Supreme Court’s oldest justices. They are followed by Sonia Sotomayor, 72; John Roberts, 71; Elena Kagan, 66; Brett Kavanaugh, 61; Neil Gorsuch, 59; Ketanji Brown Jackson, 56; and Amy Coney Barrett, 54.

The Court has had a 6-3 conservative majority since Trump appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett a month after liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died in September 2020. The trailblazing Ginsburg, who died at 87, was widely criticized for not retiring during Barack Obama’s presidency, which would have increased the chances of a liberal replacing her. The latest addition to the court was Brown Jackson, whom Joe Biden appointed in 2022, but she replaced the retiring liberal Stephen Breyer.

Thomas and Alito may be similarly ridiculed if a liberal ultimately replaces them. Alito told the Journal that nudges to retire are “not pleasant” and an uncomfortable “reminder of mortality.”

“It’s like, what are those vultures doing up there?” he said in October. “They are flying around. But it goes with life tenure.”

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Josh FialloBreaking News Reporter

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