John Thune: We Could Confirm Supreme Court Justice in Lame-Duck
With Republicans losing the Senate by a large margin and concern that they will not gain enough seats to retake the chamber in 2028 with potentially a new GOP president, there is considerable concern about replacing aging Supreme Court justices.
Some conservatives are suggesting that Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas consider resigning now in order to ensure Republicans could replace them with ironclad conservatives.
Should they pass away or retire during the next two years – and potentially the next six years with a Democrat president in 2028 – their seats could be lost for decades to far-left jurists.
Regarding the possibility of a lame duck confirmation, earlier this year Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Republicans stand ready to confirm a Supreme Court justice in the lame-duck session if a vacancy opens.
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That would guarantee preserving a conservative majority that returned the power to protect unborn children to the states and ruled favorable on a host of other key conservative political issues.
Speaking to Punchbowl News in June, Thune described judicial confirmations as a core priority.
“We’re prepared if it should happen,” he said of a potential high-court nomination, adding that it would become “the top priority” for Senate Republicans. He left the door open to action after the election: “It can be done. You’re talking about basically 60 days post-election in the lame duck… I certainly wouldn’t rule that out.”
Republicans still control the Senate but that control ends in January after Democrats flipped the chamber in Tuesday’s midterms. A Democrat majority would be positioned to block any Trump nominee, endangering the 6-3 conservative Court that decided Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and ended the federal regime of abortion on demand.
Thune has driven a faster pace of circuit and district court confirmations than during Trump’s first term. He has said the process is “time-consuming” amid Democratic procedural delays and vowed, “We’re happy to go the long way on everything.”
He has also pushed to clear as many nominees as possible before the lame-duck period, when attendance by retiring or defeated senators has historically dropped.
Alito has indicated he intends to remain through the current term in a recent interview.
Neither justice has announced plans to step down. Thune has previously stated that Republicans “would proceed quickly with such a vacancy.”
The lame-duck window offers the final chance for the current Republican majority to lock in a younger conservative justice.
For those who view the unborn as persons under the law, that majority has already delivered the most significant legal protection of the unborn in a generation by returning the issue to elected legislatures. Thune’s readiness keeps that option open for the weeks ahead.
