Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to retire, giving Biden a rare opportunity to fill the role
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, 83, has decided to retire, giving President Biden the chance to replace the most senior liberal judge on the nation’s top court.
Breyer’s decision to step down means Biden can try to solidify the three-judge liberal block on the conservative-dominated nine-judge court with a younger jurist.
The court’s oldest justice, appointed by President Clinton in 1994, plans to announce his retirement Thursday and will remain on the bench until the end of the court’s current term in the summer.
Biden has vowed to appoint the first Black woman Supreme Court justice, a pledge that he will now have the chance to fulfill. The White House said he “stands by” the promise.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed to move quickly to confirm a replacement for Breyer on the high court, an appointment that the Senate must confirm by a simple majority vote.
“President Biden’s nominee will receive a prompt hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee and will be considered and confirmed by the full United States Senate with all deliberate speed,” Schumer said.
Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, sent a tweet soon after the news broke, saying, “It has always been the decision of any Supreme Court Justice if and when they decide to retire, and how they want to announce it, and that remains the case today.”
Among the names being circulated as potential nominees are California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger, 45, U.S. Circuit Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, 51, prominent civil rights lawyer Sherrilyn Ifill, 59, and U.S. District Judge Michelle Childs, 55, whom Biden has nominated to be an appeals court judge.
Liberals had urged Breyer to retire soon while Democrats control the Senate, to avoid the risk of Republicans blocking Biden from appointing a replacement.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an iconic liberal justice, refused to retire when former President Barack Obama was in office and died on Sep. 18, 2020, while still serving on the bench. That gave former President Donald Trump the opportunity to appoint conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett as her replacement.
Biden will need the support of all or almost all the Democratic senators to get his pick confirmed, including Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), the two moderates who have torpedoed vital parts of his agenda.
The fight over Breyer’s replacement will come as the American political world gears up for the midterm elections in November.
Biden and Democrats will likely seek to use the effort to rally their base around progressive issues like abortion and voting rights, LGBTQ equality and affirmative action, all of which have been in the crosshairs of the increasingly right-wing court in recent years.
Republicans who changed the Senate rules during the Trump era to allow simple majority confirmation of Supreme Court nominees appeared resigned to the outcome.
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement: “If all Democrats hang together – which I expect they will – they have the power to replace Justice Breyer in 2022 without one Republican vote in support.”
Nomination of a Black woman could also help Biden politically with some of the Democratic Party’s most important Election Day supporters. He has been criticized by black leaders and groups for failing so far to persuade the Senate to pass legislation shoring up voting rights that are being restricted in a number of Republican-led states.
Change comes slowly to the Supreme Court. Of the 115 justices in U.S. history, there have been just five women, beginning with Sandra Day O’Connor in 1981. One of the five, Justice Sonia Sotomayor is a Latina. Clarence Thomas and the late Thurgood Marshall are the only two Black men who have served on the court.
With News Wire Services
