Justice Alito Tells Fox News He Is Not Retiring and Is Committed Through the End of the Current Supreme Court Term, as Republicans Weigh What a Democratic Senate Means for the Bench

Justice Samuel Alito has told Fox News he is staying put, at least for now.

What happened. Fox News reports that Alito confirmed Thursday he has no plans to retire and is committed through at least the current term, which is set to end in late June. The statement came as speculation grew about the future of the Supreme Court after Republicans lost the House and Senate on Tuesday.

The ages. Fox notes that Alito is 76 and, after Clarence Thomas, 78, the oldest member of the court.

The fear behind the speculation. Fox says Democrats will be in firm control of the Senate when the new Congress starts in January. It reports that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis predicted that would not change for at least six years. In a post on X on Tuesday night, as Fox quotes it, DeSantis put the chance of confirming a "worthy successor" to Thomas or Alito during Trump's term at "zero," and said a Republican administration in 2029 to 2033 would "probably" face the same problem. He wrote that if Republicans lose the seats where prediction markets give Democrats 90 percent or better, the Senate would have 55 Democrats.

The legal view. Fox also quotes Ed Whelan, a conservative legal commentator who clerked for the late Justice Antonin Scalia. He wrote that Trump is now effectively blocked from appointing federal judges or justices for the last two years of his term, and that a Republican elected in 2028 might not be able to confirm any either "until Republicans regain the Senate," which he said "might not happen until 2033."

The lame duck. Whelan said a resignation during the coming lame-duck session is highly unlikely and that Republicans would struggle to find 51 votes. He listed Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, John Cornyn, Thom Tillis, Bill Cassidy and John Curtis as senators who might not rush to back a Trump pick. Fox quotes his count that if Sherrod Brown wins the Ohio seat he would be sworn in early December, leaving the Senate at 52 Republicans and 48 Democrats until then.

Why it matters here. The court was one of the stakes some Republicans raised before the vote, and Alito's answer takes one near-term vacancy off the table. It does not change the Senate math. The statement is also a limited one: it covers this term, not any later one.

What we could not check. We read Fox's report. The Senate seat counts and the prediction market figures are the speakers' own projections, and counting in some races is still under way. Fox does not say how it reached Alito or whether he gave a fuller statement.