Top Republicans are freaking out about the future composition of the Supreme Court after the GOP’s disastrous showing in midterm elections across the country.
Democrats decisively won back control of the House and flipped Senate seats in Texas, Kansas, South Carolina, North Carolina, Iowa, Ohio, and Maine, seizing control of the upper chamber in a blue tsunami driven by intense voter backlash against President Donald Trump.
Abdul El-Sayed also won the heated Michigan Senate race, while further Democratic Senate victories are possible in Alaska, and Mississippi remains a surprisingly tight race.
Tuesday’s results effectively turn the 80-year-old president into a lame duck for his final two years in office, severely hampering his ability to push through his agenda. Crucially, Democrats regaining control of Congress next year means the president will almost certainly be unable to appoint a new Supreme Court justice if a vacancy arises.
The issue has become more pressing amid ongoing rumors that conservative justices Samuel Alito, 76, and Clarence Thomas, 78, are both facing questions about whether they plan to retire before the end of Trump’s term.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was among those raising concerns that the GOP’s midterm massacre has effectively ended any chance of Trump replacing Alito or Thomas if either steps down, as the Democrats’ newfound Senate majority will be able to block the president’s nominations.
“Assuming Republicans lose the seats where prediction markets have the Democrats at 90+% to win, that would produce 55 Democrat Senate seats,” DeSantis posted on X.
“Chance of confirming a worthy successor to Justice Thomas and/or Alito during President Trump’s term: Zero. Chance of confirming a worthy successor during a hypothetical GOP admin 2029-2033: probably zero (GOP won’t be able to recapture enough seats in 28).”
Other MAGA figures expressed similar concerns, warning that the Supreme Court’s conservative majority could be under threat for years to come.
Michael Flynn Jr., son of Trump’s former national security adviser, wrote in response to DeSantis: “One of the worst outcomes as a result of the a-- beating we’ve seen tonight… Liberal Supreme Court?”
“We needed to replace Alito and Thomas while we had the chance. Now we’re f***ed,” MAGA influencer Joey Mannarino posted to his nearly 800,000 followers.
Ed Whelan, a conservative lawyer who previously clerked for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, also dismissed suggestions that Thomas or Alito could retire within the next two months, allowing Trump to push through two more nominees who could potentially sit on the bench for decades.
“Massive Democrat takeover of Senate means: 1. Trump will not be able to appoint any justices or judges during his last two years in office (absent one-sided deal in favor of Dems). 2. If a Republican is elected president in 2028, that president will not be able to appoint any justices or judges until Republicans regain the Senate. Given the deep hole, that might not happen until 2033.
“3. I’d be extremely surprised if any justice announces resignation now (for end of term) in hope of lame-duck confirmation of successor. Among other things, it’s highly doubtful that Rs would have the vote to confirm,” Wheelen added. “If Sherrod Brown wins Ohio seat, he gets sworn into Senate in early December, so Senate becomes 52R-48D. Collins and Murkowski would be unlikely to support anyone Trump would nominate. John Cornyn, Thom Tillis, and Bill Cassidy aren’t going to be eager to do Trump any favors. And there are other senators—e.g., John Curtis of Utah—who would be leery of anyone Trump would be eager to push through.”
Last month, Alito admitted that he was considering retiring from the Supreme Court, fuelling further speculation that he could step down in 2027.
“It’s something that I think that somebody at my age has to think about every term,” he told CBS News. “But I thought that I could still make a valuable contribution, which is why I became a justice and a judge in the first place.”
