a 6-3 court at the same time as we mentioned on this program it is also a court that was really one of the only branches, one of the three branches i guess the better way to say the one of the three branches that actually took their charge from the constitution seriously, being a separate but equal power, standing up to donald trump and attempts to overthrow the election in case after case after case. yeah, absolutely. and, yeah, of course nixon is another example of that, right. so i mean he gets four appointees because of the well, when you get into a conversation where abe fortis comes in, it is probably time to keep moving. but, you know, harry blackmon was his appointee, who wrote roe v. wade. there s been a sense of institutionalized betrayal to
pressure for him to step down. most of the considerations in mind and i simply have to weigh them and think about them and decide when the proper time is. i have also said that i hope i don t die on the supreme court. reporter: any nominee of president biden s succeed justice breyer would maintain the 6-3 ideological split. bill clinton, nominated breyer, then a federal judge in boston in 1994. he was confirmed, 87-9. he quickly established himself as one of the supreme court s moderate liberals who believed that interpreting the constitution must be practical, changing with the times. the reason that i do that is because law in jenny think grows out of communities in people who have some problems they want to solve. reporter: he wrote the court s opinion striking down a state law that banned some long-term abortions. he supported affirmative action and other civil rights measure. in a widely noted dissent in
integration decisions, the idea that the warring court had gone too far. we are sort of in the 70th year of that. yeah, and you are right. i saw you yesterday talking about after the nomination, talking about one of the reasons why republican are so intense and so focused on every nominee now. you go back, you traced, you know, one republican president after another. of course, it was ike that gave america earl warren and then brennon. you can take that all the way through. a lot of republicans angry at sandra day o conner and kennedy when they had chances time and time again to end roe v. wade, they always refused to do it. so this is a conservative court,
reporting shows up. you know, our finest hours as a country have come in some ways because of the supreme court and some of our worst. you know, this is an institution that gave us dred scott and plessy and brown versus board of education. i think as you know well the focus on the right side of politics, the conservative side of politics on the court, particularly since eisenhower appointed chief justice warren, you have seen its fruition in the graphic you just showed, the intense view that judgeships matter. it is pretty clear to me that in the popular imagination these judgeships, not just the supreme court, they ve always been hugely important but they took on this particular ideological significance really after the criminal justice decisions, the
us. we begin with the news that broke yesterday with the supreme court. justice breyer plans to step down at 28 years on the bench. his formal announcement could come as soon as today. his decision gives president biden a chance to name his replacement while democrats still control the senate. nbc news justice corner pete williams has the details. reporter: people close to justice breyer say he made the decision to step down within the past several weeks and prepared to formally notify the white house this week. at age 83, he is the court s oldest justice and appears to be in good health. he remains highly productive, writing last term as, some of last year s decisions. he knows how washington works. he was well aware some progressives said justice ruth bader ginsberg stayed on the court too long despite battles with cancer. he death allowed president trump to appoint amy comey barrett. he said last fall he knew of the