Some Democrats don’t expect to fill a Supreme Court vacancy under Trump

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says Democrats will not install "MAGA" judges on the federal bench if they win the Senate in the 2026 elections, raising the stakes for President Donald Trump's final two years of judicial appointments. Asked by NBC News about a possible Supreme Court vacancy, Schumer said retaking the chamber is partly about keeping such justices off the high court and lower courts. Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said the chance of Democrats backing a Trump nominee is slim to none, and Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona said Democrats should do what Mitch McConnell did to them, though he does not want it to become a permanent rule.

No justice has signaled a departure. Speculation centers on Clarence Thomas, 78, and Samuel Alito, 76. Alito told CBS News he weighed retiring this year but decided against it, citing the difficulty of predicting politics. Trump has secured 290 federal judges, three of them Supreme Court justices, all under Republican Senate control.

Blumenthal also wants lower court nominees to say who won the 2020 election. Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii declined to speak for her colleagues and favored Supreme Court reform. Sheldon Whitehouse would likely chair Judiciary.

Summarized by PolitiKool from NBC News’s reporting. Read the full story at NBC News →