Justice Stephen Breyer, the oldest member of the Supreme Court at 82, said that he still hasn’t made his mind about when he will retire and that he is currently enjoying his role as the senior liberal on the court.
Breyer simply said “no” when CNN’s Joan Biskupic asked if he is ready to decide on his retirement.
The 82-year-old justice also gave two factors that would affect his decision.
“Primarily, of course, health,” Breyer said. “Second, the court.”
Supreme Court justices, just like any other federal judges, serve for life.
Liberals have been pushing Breyer, who is turning 83 in August, to retire soon as both the Senate and White House are currently under Democratic control. They want President Joe Biden to appoint a younger liberal so that Democrats don’t lose another seat to the Republicans on the Supreme Court.
Democrats, in fact, lost a seat on the Court to their Republican counterparts as the former Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died in 2020.
As soon as Ginsburg passed away, then-President Donald Trump named Amy Coney Barrett to succeed Ginsburg on the Supreme Court.
The appointment of Barrett was controversial, as Senate Republicans had previously declined to have hearings for Merrick Garland in 2016. Ginsburg herself had wished that the new justice would not be appointed until after the presidential election. Democrats have claimed that Republicans hurried the process just to fill the position with a Republican.
Liberals don’t want such a situation to be repeated again, so they are pushing Breyer to retire.
“This new report suggests Justice Breyer’s desire to stay is based less on a high-minded notion that he might somehow preserve the Court’s reputation for independence, and more on the fact that he finds it personally fulfilling to get the chance to serve in the role of the Court’s senior liberal,” Brian Fallon, executive director at Demand Justice, released a statement on Thursday. “In other words, this is about ego.”
