Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / Will Justice Alito retire What his comments mean for Trump & the Court

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Will Justice Alito retire What his comments mean for Trump & the Court · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: I also want to ask you about the rumors surrounding
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  Speaker 1: conservative Justice Alito and the fact that he might retire.
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  Speaker 1: He addressed those recently.
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  Speaker 2: What did he say? He did indeed.
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  Speaker 1: He said that he had potentially thought about retiring last term,
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  Speaker 1: and it's something that he has to keep reassessing. Here's
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  Speaker 1: a little bit more of Justice Alito speaking to CBS
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  Speaker 1: News' Jan Crawford Greenberg.
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  Speaker 2: I thought about it.
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  Speaker 3: You did.
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  Speaker 4: You considered it. I will continue. Well, it's something I
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  Speaker 4: think that somebody at my age has to think about
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  Speaker 4: every term. But I thought that I could still make
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  Speaker 4: a valuable contribution, which is why I became a justice
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  Speaker 4: and a judge in the first place. So that was
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  Speaker 4: basically it.
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  Speaker 3: So you'll be kind of reconsidering this probably every year,
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  Speaker 3: rethinking it.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I have to.
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  Speaker 1: Quite a pressing question for Justice Samuel Alito as we
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  Speaker 1: near the second half of this Trump presidency. But one
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  Speaker 1: thing to know, he's not going to be asked to
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  Speaker 1: rule today on this energy or climate change case. He
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  Speaker 1: has recused from this case. And so there are only
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  Speaker 1: eight justices on the bench hearing this major case this morning.
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  Speaker 2: As if the stakes for control of the Senate were
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  Speaker 2: not already high enough, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito says
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  Speaker 2: in rarer public remarks that he is weighing retirement.
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  Speaker 4: Something I think that somebody at my age has to
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  Speaker 4: think about every term. But I thought that I could
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  Speaker 4: still make a valuable contribution, which is why I became
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  Speaker 4: a justice and a judge in the first place. So
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  Speaker 4: that was basically it.
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  Speaker 3: So you'll be kind of reconsidering this probably every year,
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  Speaker 3: rethinking it.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I have to.
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  Speaker 2: Joining me now is CNN's chief Supreme Court analyst, Joan Biskupic. Joan,
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  Speaker 2: it's so great to have you here. You know the
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  Speaker 2: court better than anybody. Okay, so let's just say the
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  Speaker 2: Democrats have a big night on November 3rd. They take
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  Speaker 2: back the Senate. There are two months until the end
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  Speaker 2: of the year where they're still in charge of the
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  Speaker 2: United States Senate, a lame duck session of Congress. Is
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  Speaker 2: it possible Samuel Alito could retire then and they could
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  Speaker 2: confirm a new justice?
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  Speaker 3: Anything is possible. We saw what happened in late 2020
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  Speaker 3: when all of a sudden our Ruth Bader Ginsburg died
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  Speaker 3: and Donald Trump appointed Amy Coney Barrett and changed everything.
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  Speaker 3: I don't think he would do that. That would be
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  Speaker 3: so patently politically opportunistic. Now, just what he said in
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  Speaker 3: that interview with CBS, he thinks about it. He's been
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  Speaker 3: thinking about it as an annual routine. Once he got
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  Speaker 3: into his mid seventies, he started thinking about, can I
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  Speaker 3: make another year? Can I make another year? And, uh,
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  Speaker 3: He's felt strong enough to do that. But the specter
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  Speaker 3: of Justice Ginsburg hangs over everything. But she was 87.
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  Speaker 3: He's just 76. I don't think he would do it,
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  Speaker 3: but there's a lot of pressure on him. A lot
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  Speaker 3: of Republicans think. Just when I heard your intro and
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  Speaker 3: you said a fourth seat for Donald Trump. That's wild.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, that does give a lot of people the shakes.
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  Speaker 3: Not the GOP, of course, but a lot of people
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  Speaker 3: on the other side of the shakes. So, possible? Unlikely,
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  Speaker 3: I would think. Because you know what he says? He
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  Speaker 3: says he rules. He's hard right, of course.
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  Speaker 1: He's hard right.
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  Speaker 3: He's very much in sync with Donald Trump. But he
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  Speaker 3: says that's because of the law, as he sees it,
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  Speaker 3: not because of politics. And if he were to leave,
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  Speaker 3: it would be all about politics.
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  Speaker 2: That's such a good point. Okay, let's talk about the
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  Speaker 2: new term. Because it starts tomorrow. Two questions for you. One,
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  Speaker 2: do we expect any last-ditch efforts to try to change
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  Speaker 2: the midterm elections that we could see before November? And also,
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  Speaker 2: what are you expecting in this new term?
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  Speaker 3: Oh, we definitely could see some changes. If there's a fight,
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  Speaker 3: you know, like, let's just think of all the things
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  Speaker 3: that could happen. Intimidation at the polls, failure to certify,
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  Speaker 3: problems with accounting, problems with the seating, everything. There are
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  Speaker 3: so many choke points. that could happen. We don't see
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  Speaker 3: anything yet, but Democrats definitely are worried about what might
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  Speaker 3: be on the horizon. So yes, things could come.
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  Speaker 4: Back to the court.
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  Speaker 3: But in terms of cases that they already have, starting tomorrow,
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  Speaker 3: we have a very big climate change issue where Boulder
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  Speaker 3: is suing several energy companies for the harms, the health effects,
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  Speaker 3: and the public safety effects of burning fossil fuels. And
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  Speaker 3: the companies say, no, this is not your right to
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  Speaker 3: do it. These lawsuits are preempted by federal law, by
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  Speaker 3: the Clean Air Act, and the Trump administration has actually
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  Speaker 3: joined in saying, no, you cannot do this. So the
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  Speaker 3: justices are going to decide whether states have that kind
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  Speaker 3: of authority or not.
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  Speaker 2: And so you have these cases.
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  Speaker 3: Yes.
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  Speaker 2: In the meantime, you have Trump, the way he's just
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  Speaker 2: been going after these justices. Just last week to Time Magazine, Joan,
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  Speaker 2: he says he was asked by the reporter there, do
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  Speaker 2: you regret nominating them, referring to the justices that who
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  Speaker 2: have ruled against him? He said, yeah, what can I do?
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  Speaker 2: I put them in and they voted against me too often.
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  Speaker 2: I was very, I gave them the position of a lifetime.
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  Speaker 2: They vote against me often. Of course, everything about Trump
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  Speaker 2: is about, he expects total judicial loyalty, not judicial independence.
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  Speaker 2: But Joan, does this weigh on the justices at all?
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  Speaker 2: They hear, they see Trump bashing them. How much does
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  Speaker 2: it affect their ultimate decisions.
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  Speaker 3: Well, they don't like the criticism. And what they worry
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  Speaker 3: about is that it gins up people on the outside
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  Speaker 3: that would additionally harass the justices at a time when
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  Speaker 3: they're so worried about security. But what it does for
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  Speaker 3: some of them, including, I think, the chief justice, it's
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  Speaker 3: a little bit of a badge of honor because you
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  Speaker 3: know that Chief Justice John Roberts and several of his
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  Speaker 3: conservative colleagues are often seen as in the bag for
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  Speaker 3: Donald Trump, that they're only ruling for Donald Trump. They're not.
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  Speaker 3: They've given Donald Trump plenty. But when the president criticizes them,
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  Speaker 3: they can say, see, he doesn't like us either.
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  Speaker 2: It kind of helps them in some ways.
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  Speaker 3: Seriously, it does. But I think overall, none of them
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  Speaker 3: like the kind of atmosphere that they're in now, where
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  Speaker 3: they're getting so much criticism. And what they also fear is,
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  Speaker 3: especially from progressives and moderates, is the idea that there
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  Speaker 3: are proposals out there for court expansion, for court packing,
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  Speaker 3: and they see that as a real threat to their integrity.
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  Speaker 3: So they're trying, the Chief Justice is trying, John Roberts
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  Speaker 3: is trying to navigate a course where he is very
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  Speaker 3: conservative and he is ruling for a lot of the
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  Speaker 3: president's initiatives, but he doesn't want the court to be
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  Speaker 3: seen as linking arms with Donald Trump.
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  Speaker 2: You've literally written the book about John Roberts, so I
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  Speaker 2: want to ask you about how he views, the public
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  Speaker 2: views him right now, and the court specifically. There's a
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  Speaker 2: new Gallup poll that was out about the trust for
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  Speaker 2: the judicial branch and the Supreme Court among Americans. Not good.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, a great deal, just 12% have a great
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  Speaker 2: deal of trust, 34% a fair amount, and you see
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  Speaker 2: not very much and none at all. That's a majority
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  Speaker 2: of voters right there How does the chief justice navigate this?
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  Speaker 2: How concerned is he about this?
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  Speaker 3: I think he is very aware of the court's reputation
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  Speaker 3: and his own legacy. This is a chief who came
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  Speaker 3: on as the youngest chief justice in about 200 years.
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  Speaker 3: He came on at age 50. The only justice that
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  Speaker 3: was younger than him as a chief was the great
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  Speaker 3: Chief Justice John Marshall. And I think he has always
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  Speaker 3: sought He's always been aware of his legacy. His colleagues
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  Speaker 3: say he's always been aware of how history is going
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  Speaker 3: to view him. So this really matters to him. But
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  Speaker 3: I don't know if he has figured out a way
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  Speaker 3: to do much about it. And what can he do
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  Speaker 3: about it? And also, they're going to keep ruling the
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  Speaker 3: way they're ruling.
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  Speaker 4: Right.
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  Speaker 2: No question about that. And we'll see if that ultimately changes.
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  Speaker 2: I suspect it probably won't in terms of the trust
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  Speaker 2: among historians. from voters to the core. Joan, it's so
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  Speaker 2: great to talk to you before this critical term starts tomorrow.
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  Speaker 2: First Monday. Great day of the year. Absolutely, absolutely.