Justice Alito Will Not Retire From Supreme Court Immediately, Despite Election Outcome

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. has told people close to him that he does not intend to retire immediately from the Supreme Court, despite Democrats’ commanding win in Senate contests on Tuesday, which means Republicans will hold the chamber for only a short time longer.

As a result, Republicans may have missed the window for President Trump to name a fourth or even a fifth justice to the Supreme Court in the final two years of his presidency.

Justice Alito shared his plans with friends after the election results were clear this week, according to two people close to the justice who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

As recently as last month, Justice Alito, a forceful conservative and reliable vote in favor of Mr. Trump’s policies, had rejected the idea that he would step down if Democrats took control of the Senate.

“I intend to stick around through this term,” he told Bloomberg News, in an interview published in early October.

But the state of the electoral map after Tuesday’s election generated speculation that he or Justice Clarence Thomas — the court’s two oldest justices — could quickly announce their retirements and give the president a brief window to push through a successor during the Senate’s lame-duck session.