Overview
- Senate Republicans and aides are floating a Supreme Court vacancy, especially from Justice Samuel Alito, as a way to fire up GOP voters before the midterms.
- President Donald Trump told Fox Business he is ready to name one or more justices if a seat opens on the Court.
- CBS News reporting, echoed by Newsweek and an Alito biographer, says people close to the justice indicate he does not intend to retire this year.
- Democratic strategists warn the stay-put signals could be a smokescreen for a late announcement designed to force fall confirmation hearings.
- Analysts say a retirement disclosed after the Court’s late-June decisions could set up September hearings that a 53–47 GOP Senate could push to a final vote in roughly a month.