Democrats wary of appearing to push Justice Breyer out despite their small window to replace him
Senior Democrats are treading carefully around Justice Stephen Breyer these days, worried that a progressive push to get him to retire could either anger him or come off as overtly political in either case potentially dashing their hopes of getting a young new liberal on the Supreme Court in his place.
The clock is ticking for the party, because the Senate could fall into Republican hands during the midterm elections next year or, actually, at any moment. Two members of the Democratic majority are near or just over 80 years old, and they hail from a state where a Republican governor would name their replacement if they weren’t able to serve.
Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool
NPR published a story Monday headlined “Liberals Admire Justice Breyer. Now They Want Him To Retire.” The story sets out the expected deadline for a possible retirement announcement.
With Democrats holding the White House and the barest of Senate majorities, there is immense urgency among progressives for Breyer to announce his retirement when the Supreme Court term ends around the end of June. That push is amplified by interest and organizing among Democrats that’s centered on the courts and has increased as Republicans built a 6-3 conservative majority in the Supreme Court over the last four years.
POLITICO
How the Supreme Court Helps Keep American Law White and Male
The expectation that law students complete multiple clerkships before making it to the Supreme Court is just another hurdle for women and those that take on law school debt.
Former law clerks wait for the arrival of the late Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to arrive at the U.S. Supreme Court, where she will lie in repose, on Sept. 23, 2020, in Washington, DC. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
By SARAH ISGUR
Link Copied
Sarah Isgur is a graduate of Harvard Law School who clerked on the Fifth Circuit. She was Justice Department spokeswoman during the Trump administration and is the host of the legal podcast Advisory Opinions for the Dispatch.