Chief Justice John Roberts delivered emotional remarks toward retiring Justice Stephen Breyer during the justice’s final Supreme Court oral argument hearing of his 28-year career.
“The oral argument we have just concluded is the last the court will hear with Justice Breyer on the bench,” Roberts said in a trembling voice on Wednesday. “For 28 years, this has been his arena for remarks profound and moving, questions challenging and insightful, and hypotheticals downright silly.”
In the years since Breyer’s nomination to the high court by President Bill Clinton in 1994, he has become known to posit eccentric hypothetical scenarios as he discusses complex legal concepts with attorneys.
Chief Justice Roberts tribute to retiring Justice Breyer: “For now, we leave the courtroom with deep appreciation for the privilege of sharing this bench with him.” #SCOTUS pic.twitter.com/vMRbbM0x0L
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Roberts recounted that during April’s arguments, the last of the term, Breyer uttered comments about “John the Tiger Man” and “radioactive muskrats.” Other outlandish phrases Breyer has spoken include but are not limited to “garage-door sensors eaten by raccoons” and “tomato children.”
STEPHEN BREYER COULD CASH IN AS RETIRED SUPREME COURT JUSTICE BUT LIKELY WON’
Justice Clarence Thomas and other courtroom attendees could be heard laughing at Roberts’s reflections of Breyer’s decades on the nine-member bench.
“Now, at the appropriate time, we will, in accordance with tradition and practice, read and enter into the record an exchange of letters between the court and Justice Breyer marking his retirement,” Roberts added. “For now, we leave the courtroom with deep appreciation for the privilege of sharing this bench with him.”
Breyer announced his retirement from the high court in late January, giving President Joe Biden his first opportunity to nominate a Supreme Court justice and fulfill his campaign promise to select the first black woman to join the bench.
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Biden’s nominee, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, was confirmed by the Senate in a bipartisan 53 to 47 vote earlier this month. She will succeed Breyer’s spot on the high court later this year when the Supreme Court begins its fall 2022 session in October.
