Summary: Now I'm probably going to get in trouble with people who don't believe in bipartisanship, but this is an important story. The ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee was Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, an opponent of civil rights. Before the election, President Jimmy Carter, in a show of unity with Kennedy, had nominated Steve to serve on the First Circuit Court of Appeals. Then Carter lost the election, and Democrats lost the Senate. Breyer's nomination should have been dead (think Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court). Except it wasn't. Thurmond, in appreciation for the fairness Steve had shown as chief counsel during an intensely political year, went along with confirming his nomination to the federal bench. Fourteen years later, he was promoted to the Supreme Court, where he has served ever since.