The 'cynical' right-wing plot to keep control of the Supreme Court forever

While the Supreme Court has become notorious for kowtowing to President Donald Trump during his second term, two justices in particular — Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas — are particularly controversial for nearly always giving Trump whatever he wants. Now experts are predicting that, if Democrats reclaim the Senate in the upcoming midterm elections, they may retire so that Trump can appoint their replacements.

"Sure hope that Senate Rs are making plans to confirm all remaining judicial nominees during post-election lame-duck period," Ed Whelan from the Ethics and Public Policy Center wrote on X on Wednesday. "The prospect that Dems will win control of the Senate (something I have been warning about for a long time) seems increasingly likely. It might not happen, but best to be prepared if it does."

"I would not be surprised if Alito and/or Thomas announce sudden retirements and they try to push through confirmation in the lame duck," posted Chris Hayes from MS NOW in response to the idea presented by Whelan.

Former New Republic writer Brian Beutler shared Hayes' concern.

"Neither would I," Beutler wrote on X. "Wouldn’t be surprised if they did something even more cynical, in fact. But there’s a degree of projection here from right wing mercenaries like Whelan. This was six days ago. (Durbin is retiring, but Schumer’s office did not respond to my request for comment.)"

Speaking on MS NOW about how Thomas and Alito almost allowed Trump to meddle with mail-in voting in the upcoming midterm elections, legal expert and author Alex Wagner expressed alarm about the judges' willingness to go along with Trump on virtually any issue.

"First of all, Clarence Thomas was just on Ted Cruz's podcast openly talking about his conservative values and his distaste and disgust at liberal society and liberal values, right?" Wagner, who contributes to "The Atlantic" and wrote a new book about the Supreme Court's radical right-wing turn called "The Steal," told Chris Hayes. "That is a justice of the Supreme Court who joins Samuel Alito in this dissent. And I think the most piercing line of the dissent is when Alito writes, 'The plaintiff states invoke the practical effects of implementing the rule post-conventional elections. I take that problem very seriously, but it's not enough to convince me to deny the application.'"

When Hayes commented that Alito sounds like a "king," Wagner observed that this is true, but that he and Thomas may be joined by Justice Brett Kavanaugh on future voter suppression issues.

"Even Kavanaugh effectively says this is something Trump can do, which means everybody should be on the lookout for similar attempts ahead of the 2028 presidential elections, right?" Wagner told Hayes. "This is not the end of this battle. But the fact that this is just the arbitrary proclivities of a bunch of conservative partisan hacks who sit on the highest court of the land, with enormous power over American public life — this is a red alarm. This is a red alert situation."