Justice Stephen Breyer said on Wednesday that his newfound seniority on the Supreme Court has kept him from deciding when he will retire, enraging many liberals who are calling for him to step aside.
Breyer, who turns 83 in August, told CNN that the two major guiding decisions are his health and the court itself. The interview marked the first time Breyer has spoken about the subject after a year of Democrats pushing him to retire and make way for a younger justice.
BREYER BECOMES MAJOR SUPREME COURT PLAYER AS DEMOCRATS CLAMOR FOR HIS RETIREMENT
The pressure campaign came after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg prompted Republicans to confirm Justice Amy Coney Barrett just days before the 2020 presidential election. Ginsburg’s death stirred up fears among some Democrats that Breyer would also die on the bench and leave a vacancy that could be filled by Republicans.
But retirement is not on Breyer’s mind right now. When CNN asked if he had decided when he will move on, he responded with one word: “No.”
The chief reason for that, Breyer said, is that as the most senior liberal justice on the court, he has found a new appreciation for the judicial process, and that leading some discussions “has made a difference to me.”
“It is not a fight,” he said of the justices’ private conversations. “It is not sarcasm. It is deliberation.”
This past term, Breyer wrote the majority opinion in several of the court’s major decisions. He took the lead in the court’s decision against Oracle in a decadelong copyright dispute with Google. Breyer also wrote the majority opinion in a decision upholding the Affordable Care Act. The case marked the third time the court saved Obamacare, which Breyer often maneuvered behind the scenes to preserve.
Until this year, Breyer served in the shadows of other liberal justices. Ginsburg was appointed to the bench in 1993, a year before him. She was the court’s senior liberal from 2010, following the retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens, until her death. Breyer made clear that his role was one he’s not willing to give up so quickly.
Liberal court activists on Thursday condemned Breyer’s decision as selfish.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“Breyer is holding on because he enjoys his new power — exactly the kind of thing he should be called out for,” tweeted Christopher Kang, chief counsel of Demand Justice, the court reform group leading the effort against Breyer.
This spring, Demand Justice drove a billboard truck around Capitol Hill, demanding that Breyer retire so that President Joe Biden could appoint a black woman to replace him. The group favors Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, whom the Senate recently confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
