President cheers Justice Alito staying on Supreme Court

President Trump wrote on Tuesday morning that Justice Samuel Alito’s remaining with the Supreme Court was great news for the country. Alito marked one of the greatest justices in the court’s history, and Americans are lucky he has decided to stay, Trump added. Alito, age 76, told a columnist for The Wall Street Journal last week that he wasn’t going anywhere, contrary to a recent report. NPR mistakenly announced his retirement following the end of the court’s term in June, and retracted its story.

Alito told the WSJ columnist that he planned to stay on for another term, adding that he didn’t appreciate conservatives who publicly suggested he retire. The speculators were like circling vultures, but that’s part of the life that comes with a tenured appointment, Alito said. June 30 marked the end of Alito’s 20th full term with the Supreme Court. Critics have accused Alito of being a sort of puppet for the Trump administration, which he denied. He simply votes in each case the way he thinks the case should be decided, he told the WSJ. It’s wrong for judges to change how they vote on various cases just for the sake of appearance, Alito added.

National Public Radio journalist Nina Totenberg said she had been confused by an announcement from Chief Justice John Roberts about staff retirements when she wrote the story, which was retracted within minutes. Totenberg read an apology letter to Alito on air with NPR, calling her article the worst professional mistake of her career of more than 50 years in journalism.