Secret health scare of conservative SCOTUS justice uncovered as liberals fear Trump is plotting court shake-up

Conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was secretly rushed to the hospital last month in a previously uncovered event. 

Now, a liberal group is sounding the alarm that Donald Trump could soon appoint another conservative justice to the bench. 

Demand Justice, an advocacy group created to oppose Trump’s agenda, is raising millions for a preemptive campaign against his potential Supreme Court picks.

None of the nine Justices have announced plans to retire, nor has Trump shared any machinations to replace any of the aging members of the court. 

But 76-year-old Alito’s health scare is sparking fresh concerns over some of the oldest members on the court. 

Alito was rushed to a hospital in Philadelphia after falling ill on March 20 during a Federalist Society event, CNN reported Friday. He received fluids for dehydration and returned home that same evening. 

Alito is the second oldest Supreme Court member behind Justice Clarence Thomas, 77 – both staunch conservatives who often side with Trump.

Demand Justice President Josh Orton, a former advisor to Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders, announced a $3 million campaign to oppose any Trump Supreme Court on Friday. Though if any vacancies do open up the opposition campaign could balloon up to $15 million.

 

All Supreme Court Justices need 51 votes in the Senate to be confirmed. Democrats need to flip four seats in the midterms later this year to take control of the Senate – and they are currently favored by prediction markets to take control. 

Orton believes Trump will act sooner than later to cement conservative control over the court. 

‘He knows that this 53–47 margin is going to be the best margin he has to confirm people who may not be the most appealing to the Republican legal establishment,’ he said. ‘It is, I think, just as likely that he’s going to nominate a Lindsey Halligan or Alina Habba–type than he will a circuit court judge.’

If Democrats do win the Senate, Trump would face major opposition to any of his hand-picked judges. 

Should Thomas and Alito not retire under Trump, and a Democrat wins in 2028, they would be well into their 80s, 84 and 82 respectively, by the time a theoretical Republican president could nominate their successors. 

Orton has argued that Trump would not want to let his second term expire without solidifying the court with more conservative views, and that the President is more keen on appointing loyalists that established judges. 

Presidential advisor Will Scharf, could be a candidate that fits the loyalist mold, Orton floated, in addition to Habba and Halligan, both former personal attorneys for the President.  

‘If you think that Trump is willing to leave two of the three justices he thinks are most loyal on the court in their 80s past when he leaves office, you are not paying attention,’ Orton told the New York Times this week.

‘There is no way that Donald Trump and Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito would ever commit the fundamental miscalculation about power that we saw from Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Barack Obama.’

Ginsburg famously rebuffed calls from Obama and others to retire. She passed in September 2020, just months before the presidential election in which Joe Biden beat Trump. 

Her passing set off a frantic race by the Republican administration to replace her before Biden took control of the White House. 

Trump filled Ginsburg’s vacancy with Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who took the bench in October 2020. 

‘We are making it clear to people on both sides of the aisle and to independents: who Donald Trump is nominating the Supreme Court is only looking out for him and not them,’ Orton said. 

The White House did not return the Daily Mail’s request for comment.