BREAKING: Supreme Court RETIREMENT news SURGES into spotlight

In a shocking move this morning, NPR. posted a piece saying that conservative. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alto was. resigning from the Supreme Court with. the subhead reading, "Justice Samuel. Alto retired Friday." That piece was. then retracted by NPR shortly after, wherein they wrote, "Edditors note, earlier today, we erroneously published. the story saying that Supreme Court. Justice Samuel Alto was retiring. Neither Alto nor the court's public. information office has announced his. retirement, and we have retracted the. story." NPR released a statement saying, quote, "Due to a misunderstanding, NPR.

Supreme Court and Legal Affairs. correspondent Nina Totenberg incorrectly. reported that Samuel Justice Alo had. retired. Neither Justice Alto nor the. Supreme Court Public Information Office. has announced his retirement. As soon as. the error was realized, the story was. retracted and removed from NPR's. website, and an on-air correction was. broadcast. We regret the error and any. confusion this may have caused. This. afternoon, Mrs. Totenberg will appear on. All Things Considered to explain what. happened. She has reached out to Justice. Alto to apologize. Now, look, Nina.

Totenberg is NPR's legal affairs. correspondent. I happen to think, and. this is just my opinion, that if she. wrote this story, it's because a. retirement is coming. It's of course. entirely possible that NPR has. pre-written retirement stories in the. tank in the event that any Supreme Court. justice retires. God knows that I've. pre-written stories that I knew were. going to come out, but I'm skeptical. that that story would accidentally get. published if there wasn't some impetus. to publish it. What I think may have. happened, and again just my opinion. here, is that the story was likely. embargoed and they hit go too early.

Which is to say, I do think that an Alto. retirement is imminent. Which brings us. to the unfortunate, albeit predictable, reality. If he retires, Alto will be. replaced by some 40-year-old far-right. conservative hack who will make Amy. Coney Barrett look like Ruth Bader. Ginsburg. I've actually been speaking. about this topic a lot lately because my. new book, The Day After, expressly calls. for Democrats to expand the court from. nine justices to 13. Because of this. reason, the Supreme Court will for a. generation always serve as a veto of any.

and all progressive legislation. So even. if Democrats achieve the herculean feat. of winning the House, the Senate, and. the White House, and actually passing. legislation, the Supreme Court will. always strike it down. Period. So, we. have to decide if we want to just win. symbolic victories, if we want to get. caught trying, or if we actually want to. make permanent meaningful change. If. it's the latter, then inherently that. requires us to reform and expand the.

Supreme Court. In fact, I made that. exact argument to Governor Gavin Newsome. right here. I I've been I've been asked. what is what is the first thing that uh. that the left needs to do when it takes. power again? and and I have said the. first thing that needs to happen is is. court reform and court expansion. >> Yeah. Look, I you you're you're getting. me closer to your point of view and uh. you challenged me. I I know we we were. talking I was on your pod down in LA a. few months ago and this notion of 13 and. then just looking at the district courts. as that framework sort of anchor h the.

old school the ember of a traditional. you know. for a guy who recognized the urgency of. the moment with Prop 50. Yeah. uh and in. fact the only democratic state to have. successfully redrawn its maps uh ahead. of 2026. That that is what I think uh is. the the natural the natural evolution. >> Um God bless somebody like you. >> I'm with you. I'm done winning. arguments. We got to we got to we got to. win and we got to consolidate power. And. again, this book is about power. The sub.

headline again, how to I mean, this is. it. Wield power. Yeah. >> Uh without it, it's all And I. should note that the whole point of my. book, The Day After, is to get our. elected officials on the left to fight. I was able to do that with Gavin. Newsome, and I want to be able to do. that with other elected officials. But. frankly, that only happens if the book. makes a splash. So, here's my ask to. you. Um, and I and I ask this with all. the humility in the world. If you agree. with my message, imploring Democrats to. fight, then please consider pre-ordering.

my book because it's working. The. blueprint works, but I do need some help. to get this thing over the finish line. I'm going to put a link right here on. the screen. I'm going to put it in the. post description in the comments, or you. can go to brian tylercohen.com/book. And by the way, if you need even more. proof that it's working, here was Adam. Schiff being asked the same question. based on my book on CNN's The Story Is. Today. >> So, there's a question in terms of what. we should do in terms of should the. court be reformed? Um, friend of the. show, progressive podcaster Brian Tyler.

Cohen has a new book coming out where he. argues that the court should be expanded. to 13, that the Democrats have to get. more aggressive uh, when it comes to. power if they were able to take control. of the presidency, take control of the. United States Senate. He made that. argument to Governor Gavin Newsome on. Gavin Newsome's podcast. Here's some of. that. >> I've been I've been asked what is what. is the first thing that uh, that the. left needs to do when it takes power. again? And and I have said the first. thing that needs to happen is is court. reform. and court expansion. >> Yeah. Look, I you're you're you're.

getting me closer to your point of view. >> Do you agree that the court should be. expanded, that there needs to be more. justices, and would you support that? >> I do agree, and I've advocated this for. some years now. The most consequential. reform in my view would be to put term. limits on the Supreme Court which can be. done constitutionally as long as you. provide that after a suitable period say. 18 years a justice would rotate back. onto the court of appeals or the. district court they would still have. life tenure is required by the.

constitution on a court but there is no. constitutional right to be on a certain. court for life. Here's the rub though. it would be this Supreme Court that. would decide whether that's. constitutional and they would decide it. in their self-interest. So, first you. would have to change the court by. expanding it and they stacked the court. when they deprived Barack Obama of an. appointment when they withheld even a. confirmation hearing from Merrick. Garland. They have stacked the court. The question is, will Democrats be. willing to unstack it? I fully support.

that as well as term limits and an. enforceable code of ethics. >> You think the politics of that have. changed? >> I have the votes for that. I think that. what Republicans have demonstrated is. that if you have the courage of your. convictions, you can move the country. far and fast. The one difference I would. have with Brian though, I wouldn't make. that the first priority. The first. priority would be passing voting rights. It would be ending the gerrymander. Um, unless we have a a firm foundation in. terms of voting, then the whole edus can.

come crumbling down. But I would. definitely put Supreme Court reform at. the high point of my list as well. >> Meaning now Adam Schiff is on board. That is a huge step in the right. direction. So again, if this book is a. blueprint for getting Democrats to. finally fight, when I get to make the. case, the case works. But I can always. use some help amplifying the message. So. if you can support my work and. independent media, I'd ask that you. please pre-order this thing and get it. into the zeitgeist as much as possible. So, look, while I fully expect Samuel.

Leto or Clarence Thomas or both to step. down and be replaced by younger and. possibly even more hardline justices, I. still hope that we will enter a new era. of progressive politics imminently where. we don't make decisions based on fear, but rather based on a collective. conviction that we need to deliver for. Americans and and will not let anything. stand in our way. If that means we. expand the court, then so be it. It is. neither in the Constitution nor. unprecedented in American history that. the number of justices will change, including, I might add, when Mitch.

McConnell lowered the number of justices. from 9 to 8 for an entire year to. prevent Obama from appointing his. choice. So, we can blindly adhere to the. status quo, or we can get done. My. vote is for the latter, and my job will. be to convince the people in power that. that is what the electorate is looking. for. Remember, elected officials are in. government not to defend the processes. of government, but to achieve outcomes. If that's going to be our northstar, then we have to start acting like it. [music].

Before you go, I'm very excited to. announce that I've written a new book. titled The Day After: How to Wield Power. in a PostTrump World. The book explores. what is, in my opinion, the single most. important theme that we're dealing with. in politics today and moving forward. Power. specifically how Republicans. abuse it and how Democrats refuse to. wield it. This book explains how we got. here and more importantly, how we should. finally wield power if we're fortunate. enough to get it back. It is the. blueprint for progressives who want to. do far more than just restore the status. quo. Please pre-order today by visiting.

the link in the episode description or. go to brianttylercoen.com/book. You can grab yours from any of the major. retailers like Amazon or Barnes & Noble, or find an independent bookstore closest. to you that's also listed on that. website. Thanks so much for supporting. Independent Media.