Alito: 'Obviously I'm Here for Another Term'

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said reports of his imminent departure are off base. In a Wall Street Journal interview published Friday, the 76-year-old said, "Obviously I'm here for another term." That tamped down speculation that surged after NPR in June briefly—and incorrectly—posted a story saying he was retiring at the end of the last term, Politico reports. The false alarm had fueled talk that an Alito retirement this year could let President Trump install another justice if Republicans hold the Senate. Alito waved that off in the Journal interview, rejecting the idea that judges are "interchangeable parts" and likening talk of his retirement to vultures circling—an unwelcome but inevitable feature of lifetime tenure.