Justice Stephen G. Breyer will retire, clearing the way for President Biden to make his first appointment to the Supreme Court.
Justice Stephen G. Breyer, the Supreme Court’s 83-year-old liberal pragmatist, plans to retire this year, clearing the way for President Biden to make his first appointment to the high court.
Jackson, who serves as a federal appeals court judge in Washington, was a Supreme Court clerk for Breyer in 1999 and 2000. In March last year, Biden nominated her to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to fill the seat vacated by Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland. Asked Wednesday whether Biden might select Vice President Kamala Harris, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the president has “every intention” of keeping Harris as his running mate in 2024.
The last time Republicans held the Senate under a Democratic president, Senate GOP leaders simply declined to act on the nominee. In 2016, then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to hold hearings or a vote on Garland, President Obama’s nominee to fill the seat of Justice Antonin Scalia, who had died suddenly.Ruth Bader Ginsburg
However, Breyer never achieved great prominence on a high court that was dominated by its conservatives and the right-leaning moderates who cast the deciding votes, including Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Anthony M. Kennedy. Meanwhile, liberals cheered for Ginsburg and the more outspoken Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Obama’s first appointee.
In 2019, for example, Breyer joined a court opinion that upheld as constitutional a 40-foot Latin cross that stood for nearly a century in a Maryland suburb as a memorial to local soldiers who died in World War I. As a condition for joining the opinion, Breyer had insisted the court not endorse erecting new religious symbols on public property, but instead accept long-standing monuments whose purpose was to honor soldiers, not to promote a religious viewpoint.
Breyer’s openness to compromise did not always work. He was dejected by the 5-4 ruling in Bush vs. Gore, which halted the hand recount of punch-card ballots in Florida and preserved a narrow presidential win for then-Gov. George W. Bush. Breyer, by contrast, insisted the court should be guided by the purpose of the law and interpret its provisions in line with what Congress intended. He was the justice most likely to uphold a law and the federal regulations that enforced it. Where conservatives complained of “unelected bureaucrats” and an all-powerful “administrative state,” Breyer spoke of agency officials as smart, serious-minded experts who were seeking to implement the law that came from Congress.
Breyer’s usual tone was hopeful and optimistic. In a 2010 book called “Making Our Democracy Work,” Breyer said informed citizens, elected officials and judges must constantly work together with the aim of improving government. Yet from his Supreme Court chamber, he watched each year as Congress grew ever more divided, with members unwilling to work with or even speak with those on the other side of the aisle.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Stephen Breyer and the End of the Apolitical Supreme CourtEven John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett claim to be above partisan politics. But the retiring Stephen Breyer may be the last justice to actually believe it. ed_kilgore writes
Read more »
Who will Biden appoint to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer?Justice Stephen Breyer will step down from the Supreme Court at the end of the current term, according to people familiar with his thinking. His decision to retire allows President Joe Biden to appoint a successor to one of the three remaining liberal justices. NBC's Peter Alexander discusses who it might be.
Read more »
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer plans to retireSupreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer plans to retire, setting up a seismic confirmation battle at the start of a midterm election year as President Joe Biden tries to find his footing with his agenda stalled and Democrats divided in Congress.
Read more »
Justice Stephen Breyer, an influential liberal on the Supreme Court, to retireBehind the scenes, Breyer, 83, pushed and prodded his fellow justices for consensus. His decision gives President Biden his first opportunity to name a new justice to the court.
Read more »
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer Retiring, Perfectly Timed for DemsSupreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is retiring after more than 2 decades on the bench.
Read more »
Liberal Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to retireSupreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is retiring, giving Biden an opening he has pledged to fill by naming the first Black woman to the high court.
Read more »