Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito says it’s ‘absolutely wrong’ to vote based on ‘correlation with what Trump wants’ — ‘I’m not going to do that’
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said in an interview that he will continue deciding cases according to his interpretation of the law rather than adjusting his votes to avoid appearing aligned with President Donald Trump.
Speaking to James Taranto of The Wall Street Journal, Alito said, “I vote in every case the way I think the case should be decided. If that means a high correlation with what Trump wants, fine. If it means zero correlation with what Trump wants, fine as well.”
Alito also rejected the idea that he should deliberately split his votes between conservative and liberal outcomes to appear impartial. He said he has never ruled one way in some cases and another way in others merely so “people will say, ‘Well, he’s objective, because sometimes he favors this side and other times he favors that side.’”
Instead, Alito said, “I’m going to decide them all the way that I think they should be decided. People can agree, people can disagree.”
The context behind Alito’s remarks
The interview came amid weeks of speculation about Alito’s future on the bench.
That speculation intensified in June 2026 after a veteran Supreme Court reporter at NPR mistakenly published a previously prepared story about Alito’s retirement. The story was quickly retracted and the court confirmed it was inaccurate. Still, the incident fueled questions about whether Alito might leave the bench.
A retirement while Republicans control the White House and Senate would give Trump an opportunity to nominate another conservative justice who could potentially serve for decades.
Alito sought to put the speculation to rest, at least for now.
“Obviously I’m here for another term,” Alito, 76, told The Wall Street Journal. His comments effectively rule out retirement before the court begins its next term in October, which is expected to run through late June.
Appointed by former President George W. Bush in 2006, Alito is widely considered a potential retirement candidate during Trump’s second term. His departure could allow conservatives to strengthen their 6-3 majority for the long term.
Asked whether persistent calls for his retirement bother him, Alito told the Journal, “It’s not pleasant, in the sense that it’s a reminder of mortality,” he said. “It’s like, what are those vultures doing up there? They are flying around. But it goes with life tenure.”
Reaction from legal figures and commentators
Reactions to Alito’s comments split along familiar ideological lines.
Constitutional law and criminal defense attorney Alan Dershowitz told Newsweek by email August 7, “I agree with Alito’s answer and I hope he stays on the Court.”
Dave Aronberg, the former Palm Beach County state attorney, offered a contrasting view in a post to Newsweek via X.
Alito’s “comments about neutrality sound great on paper, but his view of presidential power seems to change depending on who is in the White House,” Aronberg said.
He argued that Alito is “an automatic vote for sweeping executive authority” when a Republican is president, pointing to rulings involving criminal immunity, border policy and tariffs. But, Aronberg said, “the second a Democrat takes office, that deference disappears,” citing rulings against executive actions involving student loans, environmental regulations and public health.
Justice Neil Gorsuch made a similar criticism in the tariffs case, according to SCOTUSblog. Gorsuch accused Alito and two other justices of inconsistency, arguing they had rejected similar claims of executive authority under a Democratic president while now supporting broader presidential power under Trump.
Trump, meanwhile, has indicated he is not counting on Alito’s retirement but would be prepared to nominate a replacement if it happened.
Speaking earlier this year to Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, Trump called Alito a “great justice” and said he might have two or three more opportunities to nominate Supreme Court justices during his term.
“I don’t know. I’m prepared to do it. But when you mention Alito, he is a great justice,” Trump told Bartiromo.
Where public approval of the court stands
Alito’s defense of his independence comes as public approval of the Supreme Court remains relatively low.
A Marquette Law School Poll found that 47 percent of adults approved of the way the court was handling its job, while 53 percent disapproved. Approval varied sharply by party, reaching 74 percent among Republicans, 35 percent among independents and 22 percent among Democrats.
Republican approval has also fallen significantly. In a February 2025 survey by the same pollster, 84 percent of Republicans approved of the court, meaning approval among Republicans had dropped 10 percentage points between the two surveys.
The Marquette poll also found significant partisan differences over whether the justices routinely issue decisions favoring Trump.
Alito’s “practical originalist” philosophy
In the same interview, Alito described his approach to constitutional interpretation as “practical originalism.”
He argued that judges should remain faithful to the Constitution’s original public meaning while resisting overly broad interpretations that extend constitutional principles beyond what the provision’s framers would have understood.
“You can take an important principle that is in the Constitution, like equal treatment,” Alito said, “and if you view it at a very high level of generality, you can say that the Constitution requires equal treatment in a context that never occurred to, or never could have occurred to, those who adopted the provision.”