President Donald Trump has apparently defied reported calls from within his own party to consider reshuffling the nation’s highest court ahead of a vicious battle for control of the legislature next year.
In a sit-down with Politico released Tuesday, the president was asked if either of the Supreme Court’s aging conservative justices, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, should consider retiring before the 2026 midterm elections.
“I hope they stay because I think they’re fantastic. Both of those men are fantastic,” Trump told the outlet.
His comments come amid reports that senior figures in the MAGA movement have expressed alarm at the prospect of losing the overwhelming conservative majority in the nation’s highest court if either Alito, 75, or Thomas, 77, or both, decide to retire after next year’s midterms.
A July analysis piece in the Independent suggested there’s been growing concern among Republican ranks that their party may be headed for its very own “Ginsburg moment”—referring to the death of liberal-leaning SCOTUS Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg during Trump’s first term, which allowed the president to appoint conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
Those concerns will likely intensify as opinion polls show the GOP bleeding popular support under Trump’s second stint in the White House, with analysts forecasting a potential 2026 midterm bloodbath for Republicans in both House and Senate races if things continue along their present political trajectory.
The GOP holds 53 seats in the Senate, representing a razor-thin margin against Democratic and independent senators, given the 51-vote threshold for any majority ruling, and meaning a loss of just two seats would create significant, potentially unsurpassable obstacles to replacing either Alito or Thomas should they retire after next year’s polls.
Politico noted that “large swathes” of the MAGA leader’s agenda have been brought before the nation’s highest court.
Coupled with the widely criticized use of the court’s “shadow docket,” a process that allows justices to make decisions at speed without undergoing full briefings or oral arguments, the present six-three conservative majority has thus far proven a boon to the president’s second term.
Any change in the court’s makeup could create challenges for the president’s MAGA agenda.
Even as he insists he has no plans to shore up a Republican advantage ahead of next year’s elections, Trump has shown signs of concern over what might happen in the event the GOP loses the Senate post-midterms.
Only last Friday, he ranted in a blistering Truth Social tirade in which he claimed the Democrats would seek the “OBLITERATION” of SCOTUS should they secure an overall victory in the upcoming races.
“The Radical Left Democrats are looking at 21 Justices, with immediate ascension,” Trump wrote, citing zero evidence to that effect.
“This would be terrible for our Country. Fear not, however, Republicans will not let it, or any of their other catastrophic policies, happen,” the president continued. “Our Country is now in very good hands.”
The president used his Politico interview to repeat the same, unfounded claims. “The Democrats want to pack the court,” he told the outlet. “They want to have 21 justices. That would be a terrible thing for this country, the future of the Republican Party.”
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