How a 'strategic retirement' could help GOP avoid 'dopey strategy' that plagued Dems

When Joe Biden was president and Democrats still controlled the U.S. Senate under Chuck Schumer's leadership, some liberals and progressives argued that Justice Sonia Sotomayor (who is now 71) should retire. The idea was to nominate a Generation X or Millennial liberal who could serve on the High Court for 25 or 30 years. But now that Donald Trump is back in the White House and Republicans have a Senate majority, the justice who is facing retirement arguments is 75-year-old George W. Bush appointee Samuel Alito.

In an article published on February 19, Salon's David Daley examines the possibility of a "well-timed" or "strategic" Alito retirement that would give Trump a chance to make his fourth SCOTUS nomination. And such carefully timed, heavily politicized retirements, Daley laments, are having a negative effect on the Court.

"As Democrats ruefully learned in September 2020 with the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, riding it out, fingers crossed, is a really dopey strategy," Daley explains. "So given the high stakes and the Court's role as the true source of GOP political power, the smart money suggests that Alito, with his eye on the long game, may well step down. After all, Republicans have long understood the power of each Supreme Court seat. In the end, they know that what matters isn't the brilliance of any individual justice — that there is no indispensable justice. Power flows from ensuring that they are replaced by someone who wears the same color robe."

After Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced her retirement in July 2005, then-President Bush eventually nominated Alito (Harriet Miers, Bush's initial nominee for the seat, withdrew her acceptance of the nomination). And Alito was a game-changer for that seat. While Ronald Reagan appointee O'Connor was a moderate and nuanced conservative, Alito is a hardcore social conservative who often disagreed with libertarian Reagan-appointed Justice Anthony Kennedy (now retired) on abortion and gay rights.

In 2026, Daley observes, Alito is "enough of a savvy political analyst to understand that this could be his last chance to preserve his seat for conservatives for decades to come."

"Republicans remain favored to hold the Senate this fall," Daley notes. "But what if Democrats ride a blue wave and take control, summon their inner Mitch McConnell to block any late-term Trump selection and then take back the White House in 2028? In that case, Alito might then need to white-knuckle it through six years of annual physicals to ensure the GOP retains its current edge."

Daley continues, "It's a tough call: hobnob with European aristocrats and feel the thrill of executing the innocent if they, whoopsie, miss an appeal deadline, or allow some younger, red-robed Federalist Society/MAGA partisan the opportunity to abet pay discrimination against women…. Reining in this imperious, arrogant Court might be the most important first step toward placing this nation on a road toward a rebuilt, strengthened democracy. Putting an end to these phony strategic retirements — by both sides — would be an obvious place to start."