Alito, 76, is one of six conservative justices on the nine-person Supreme Court
The Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative lean wouldn’t change if Alito retired and Trump nominated a new justice. But Alito’s retirement would allow Trump to appoint a fourth justice to the court. Alito was nominated by then-President George W. Bush in the fall of 2005 and took his seat on the bench in January 2006.
Trump has lashed out at the Supreme Court for several rulings against him on controversial issues like his sweeping tariff policy and his challenge to birthright citizenship. Alito sided with Trump on those two issues.
The timing of a Supreme Court justice’s retirement is crucial because the party in power can change the court’s political leaning for decades.
No?? The constitution very clearly says that it’s the highest court of the land.
If you really believe that, then you have a child’s understanding of the Supreme Court. It is anything but as simple as you seem to believe.
SCOTUS has original jurisdiction over a few narrow kinds of cases. These are powers Congress can’t amend or change. Disputes between the states and disputes involving ambassadors are examples of these. But there’s also appellate jurisdiction - where a court has a right to appeal decisions made by other courts. This authority isn’t absolute. The Constitution states:
Congress can just flat out say, “SCOTUS isn’t allowed to rule on this topic,” and it can’t. This has been done multiple times in US history.