There is significant speculation at the moment about possible Supreme Court retirements. 

You may have heard some of this speculation coming from the political left, but you may be surprised to learn that it is also coming from the political right.

CNN reports that some are expecting Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and/or Samuel Alito to step down from the high court in the coming years.

This, of course, all comes as President-Elect Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election and with just two months to go before the Biden-Harris Administration exits the White House and the Trump-Vance Administration enters it.

Here is what is going on:

Few things are more important in American politics than replacing Supreme Court justices. This is because the Supreme Court has a massive impact on the direction of the country, as, for example, we recently saw with the overturning of Roe v. Wade. 

Currently, the Supreme Court has a conservative majority, after Trump, during his first administration, got the opportunity to appoint three justices to the bench.

Now, the name of the game for conservatives is to maintain this majority as long as possible, while the name of the game for Democrats is to try to find a way to flip one of these conservative seats.

Democrats also want to make sure that they don't lose any more seats on the court to the conservatives, which could happen, for example, if one of the liberal justices steps down during Trump's upcoming administration.

This explains the dynamics of the situation that is currently taking place.

Why Alito and Thomas?

If you are a conservative sitting on the Supreme Court and if you are getting a bit up there in age, then there is no better time to step away from the court than when a Republican is president, as Trump will be in a couple of months. This is because Trump can replace them with conservative justices.

CNN, in its report, writes, "Conservatives are preparing for Justices Clarence Thomas or Samuel Alito – both in their mid-70s – to step down within the next two years, whether the justices are ready to quit or not."

This suggests that Republicans may try to pressure Thomas and/or Alito to step aside, just as the Democrats are currently putting pressure on Sonia Sotomayor to do the same.

Whether or not the pressure campaign will work is another story.

Time will tell how this all plays out, but it would be something of a blow to lose either Alito or Thomas. Both have shown themselves to be exceptional Supreme Court justices, and one has to imagine that they would not be easy to replace.