President Donald Trump called on Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas to rebuke demands to step down from critics, calling the justices “fantastic.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump\u00a0made the remark to Politico<\/a>\u00a0this week as the outlet reported that some members of the Republican Party are hoping the court’s two oldest conservatives consider stepping down before the midterm elections. Their decisions to step down from the bench would enable Trump to nominate conservatives to take their place while the Republican Party is still guaranteed control of the Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I hope they stay,” Trump said, adding, “‘Cause I think they\u2019re fantastic.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alito, 75, has no plans to retire from the Supreme Court anytime soon, a source close with close knowledge of the justice told\u00a0The Wall Street Journal<\/a>\u00a0in November 2024 after Trump was elected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Despite what some people may think, this is a man who has never thought about this job from a political perspective,” a person close to Alito said to the newspaper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The idea that he\u2019s going to retire for political considerations is not consistent with who he is,” this person added. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Alito was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2006 by President\u00a0George W. Bush. Thomas is 77 years old. He was appointed to the court by President George H.W. Bush in 1991.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sonia Sotomayor, appointed by President Obama in 2009, is 71. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2022, Thomas\u00a0faced widespread calls to step down from the bench or be impeached\u00a0because he would not recuse himself from cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Investigators on the Jan. 6 select committee revealed that the justice’s wife, Ginni Thomas, sent text messages to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows urging him to challenge Donald Trump’s\u00a02020 election loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Democrats took no action against Thomas.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Clarence Thomas should resign,” Ocasio-Cortez said<\/a> at the time. “If not, his failure to disclose income from right-wing organizations, recuse himself from matters involving his wife, and his vote to block the Jan. 6th commission from key information must be investigated and could serve as grounds for impeachment.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n