<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1656605626718,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000177-1b39-d2c7-af7f-5fbf13ff0004","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1656605626718,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000177-1b39-d2c7-af7f-5fbf13ff0004","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_56605619", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"980222"} }); ","_id":"00000181-b563-df08-a3b3-ff6fce6a0000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedSupreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer retired on Thursday, paving way for his successor, Ketanji Brown Jackson, to be sworn in as the 116th justice on the high court and the first black woman to sit on the nine-member bench.
Jackson, 51, received two oaths during a ceremony in the West Conference Room, the first with Chief Justice John Roberts administering the Constitutional Oath, followed by Breyer, 83, administering the Judicial Oath.
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“I’m pleased to welcome Justice Jackson to the court and to our common calling,” Roberts said.
During the ceremony, Jackson’s husband, Patrick G. Jackson, held the Bible while Jackson placed her hand on top and recited both oaths.
“And then I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I’m about to enter, so help me God,” Jackson said, repeating after Roberts.
Jackson, who clerked for Breyer, later released a statement lauding his nearly 28-year legacy on the Supreme Court.
“With a full heart, I accept the solemn responsibility of supporting and defending the Constitution of the United States and administering justice without fear or favor, so help me God. I am truly grateful to be part of the promise of our great Nation,” Jackson wrote.
She called Breyer a “personal friend and mentor” for the past two decades.
“In the wake of his exemplary service, with the support of my family and friends, and ever mindful of the duty to promote the Rule of Law, I am well-positioned to serve the American people,” Jackson added.
In a separate statement, Breyer praised Jackson’s “hard work, integrity, and intelligence” that led to her confirmation to the court.
“I am glad for my fellow Justices. They gain a colleague who is empathetic, thoughtful, and collegial. I am glad for America. Ketanji will interpret the law wisely and fairly, helping that law to work better for the American people, whom it serves,” Breyer wrote.
The transition comes as the Supreme Court is concluding a monumental term following the overturning of Roe v. Wade last week in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Jackson was confirmed to the seat in April by a 53-47 vote in the Senate following Breyer’s January notice of retirement to the White House.
Jackson enters the court at a time when the 6-3 Republican-appointed supermajority holds major sway over critical decisions that will affect future generations.
“She’s about the same age as the conservative majority. It’s just going to be that way while she’s on the bench,” Russell Wheeler, a governance studies expert with the Brookings Institution, told the Washington Examiner.
“You know, things could change in 20 years … but it’s kind of hard to think they’re going to be much different than they are now,” he added. “They are very much a ‘damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead’ type of court, led by Justice [Clarence] Thomas who is … proceeding ahead with his projects to undo much of the constitutional law over the last 50 years.”
Jackson’s confirmation came just two hours after the high court rendered one of its last opinions of the term, a 6-3 decision split along ideological lines that limits the Environmental Protection Agency‘s authority to regulate power plants’ greenhouse gas emissions. President Joe Biden’s Justice Department had urged the court not to take the case, while environmental groups considered the decision a major blow to the president’s goals to mitigate climate change.
“The shoes are big. I mean, there’s no question about that,” University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias told the Washington Examiner, saying he believes Jackson “may be somewhat like Justice Breyer in the sense that she’ll try to build consensus on a court that’s now pretty fractured.”
“When Chief Justice John Roberts said that farewell to him at the last oral argument, he was very emotional about it, and I think that tells you a lot about how revered Breyer is and how he’s so much in the middle of that court,” Tobias said of Breyer’s tenure.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Following the court’s last oral argument period in April, Roberts recounted his memories of Breyer’s eccentric hypothetical scenarios he raised from the bench 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.”
Breyer had “special areas of expertise in administrative law, and that showed,” Wheeler added, saying he was a “straight shooter” and “a consensus-builder to the degree you can be a consensus-builder in a highly ideological court.”
