Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has confirmed that he seriously considered retiring at the end of the court's last term but decided he could still make "a valuable contribution" — and that he will weigh the question again every year.
In excerpts of a CBS News interview released Friday, the 76-year-old justice broke months of silence on speculation that he was preparing to step down and hand President Donald Trump another nomination while Republicans control the Senate. The full interview with CBS chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford airs Monday.
"I thought about it," Alito said when Crawford asked whether Republican pressure to retire had factored into his thinking. "Somebody at my age has to think about every term."
He said he ultimately stayed because "I thought that I could still make a valuable contribution, which is why I became a justice and a judge in the first place."
Crawford pressed him on whether delaying retirement risked repeating the Ruth Bader Ginsburg scenario — the liberal justice's death in 2020 allowed Trump to replace her with conservative Amy Coney Barrett. Alito brushed the comparison aside: "It's too hard to predict," he said, noting that no one can foresee his health or the political landscape "a year from now, two years from now."
Alito, nominated by President George W. Bush in 2006, is the court's second-oldest member behind Justice Clarence Thomas, 78. He anchors the 6-3 conservative majority alongside Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Barrett. His departure under a Republican president and Senate would preserve that majority; the last justice to leave, Stephen Breyer, retired in June 2022 under Democratic pressure to clear the way for Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Rumors swirled in August after NPR published — then retracted — an article claiming Alito would retire at the end of the 2025-26 term. Republicans have openly hoped he would step down while the GOP holds the Senate, smoothing confirmation of a conservative successor. In April, when asked about the rumors, Trump said "it'd be nice to say now I have somebody for 40 years," while praising Alito as "an unbelievable justice."
But the window may narrow. If Democrats retake the Senate in November's midterms, confirming an equally conservative replacement would get harder. Alito acknowledged that a successor could unwind his landmark work but insisted there is "no perfect time" to step down.
The interview is the first of several appearances tied to a forthcoming book on his judicial philosophy. For Trump, a fourth Supreme Court pick remains on the table — but the timing, Alito made clear, is his to decide.