Why Stephen Breyer is resisting liberal pleas for him to retire

For nearly a decade, Justice Stephen Breyer has been brushing off calls for his retirement, and there’s no indication that he’ll give in any time soon.

Breyer, 82, becomes famously prickly when the subject arises. Last March, he told Axios that he doesn’t really think about retiring because “I enjoy what I’m doing.” In December, he shut down the same question from Slate, saying only that he plans to retire “eventually.” More recently, Breyer on Tuesday spoke out broadly against attempts to politicize the high court in a speech to a Harvard Law School audience. Notably, he remained silent on the growing calls for him to step aside.