‘They are fantastic’: Donald Trump doesn’t want Supreme Court judges Alito, Thomas to retire

In an interview with Politico, Trump said it would be “devastating” if the court blocked his attempt to end automatic citizenship for people born in the United States. He also said he had not yet decided whether he would try to remove citizenship from people who already hold it under current law if the court rules in his favour.

Some Republicans have urged the court’s two oldest conservatives Thomas, 77, and Alito, 75 to consider retiring before the midterm elections so Trump could nominate replacements. But the president rejected that idea. “I hope they stay, ’cause I think they’re fantastic,” Trump told Politico.

However, earlier US Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented from a decision blocking President Donald Trump’s deportation of Venezuelan migrants under a 1798 law, citing inadequate due process. Alito, in a dissent joined by Thomas, said he did not think the US Supreme Court had the power to weigh in at this stage of the case and questioned whether providing relief to the detainees as a group was legal.

The Supreme Court also clarified that the administration was free to pursue deportations under other provisions of US immigration law. Trump’s deportations are part of the Republican president’s immigration crackdown since he returned to office in January.