Friday, March 19, 2021

Should Justice Breyer retire?

 There's been a big push by some liberals because they see a tight window for Biden to get a Justice confirmed and they don't want another RBG situation.  Here's the AP covering the story:

Forgive progressives who aren’t looking forward to the sequel of their personal “Nightmare on First Street,” a Supreme Court succession story.
The original followed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s decision to forgo retirement from the high court, located on First Street in Washington, when Democrats controlled the White House and the Senate during six years of Barack Obama’s presidency, until 2015.
Despite some pointed warnings of what might happen, Ginsburg remained on the bench until her death last year at age 87. President Donald Trump replaced the liberal icon with a young conservative, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and cemented a 6-3 conservative majority on the court just over a month before he lost his bid for a second term.
In the updated version, 82-year-old Justice Stephen Breyer plays the leading role. He is the oldest member of the court and has served more than 26 years since his appointment by President Bill Clinton.
With spring comes the start of the period in which many justices have announced their retirement. Some progressives say it is time for Breyer to go, without delay. Other liberal voices have said Breyer should retire when the court finishes its work for the term, usually by early summer.
“He should announce his retirement immediately, effective upon the confirmation of his successor,” University of Colorado law professor Paul Campos wrote in The New York Times on Monday.
Campos’ plea stems from the Democrats’ tenuous hold on power.
A Democrat, President Joe Biden, lives in the White House and his party runs the evenly divided Senate only because the tie-breaking 51st vote belongs to Vice President Kamala Harris.
But there is no margin for a senator’s death or incapacitating illness that could instantly flip control to Republicans. Campos noted that the party composition of the Senate has changed more often than not in each two-year session of Congress since the end of World War II.
Breyer has remained mum about his plans, at least publicly. His last comment on the topic of retirement was made to Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick in an interview published in December. “I mean, eventually I’ll retire, sure I will,” Breyer said. “And it’s hard to know exactly when.”

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:25 AM

    For all the good RBG did, her decision to not retire will like swing the pendulum of her work at least as far in the other direction with ACB. Quite unfortunate.

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  2. Anonymous12:10 PM

    What Justice would Manchin approve? That's the question.

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  3. Anonymous1:58 AM

    Manchin would approve of Leondra Kruger or Ketanji Brown Jackson; Biden is very likely to appoint one of those two. If Biden tries to appoint one of the NC Supreme Court justices, Cheri Beasley or Anita Earls, it could be more of a fight. But it is a liberal replacing a liberal, so I would bet that Collins and Murkowski will vote for the nominee.

    The only plausible nominee I can see Manchin outright rejecting is Professor Melissa Murray.

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  4. Anonymous11:45 AM

    I guess, as long as they don't want minimum wage.

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