Stephen Breyer can read the electoral tea leaves. Although Joe Biden still has another three years of his presidency to go, his party’s razor-thin control of Congress is almost surely doomed come November. At 83 years old, the Supreme Court justice is a full decade older than the next oldest justice, Clarence Thomas. Unless Breyer wishes literally to bet on his life one of the three crucial remaining liberal seats on the court, it was now or never to announce his retirement.
Biden’s presidency is one year old, and it was one of the worst first years in modern history. Save for a bipartisan infrastructure bill, he has achieved nothing positive. On the other side of the ledger, we have 7% inflation and the collapse of democracy in Afghanistan, and now, Ukraine is probably about to fall off the map, making Donald Trump’s phone call with its president, the one for which he was impeached, seem quaint.
