WASHINGTON – The eldest member of the highest court in the land is calling it a career – maybe to avoid what happened the last time a colleague was replaced.
On Jan. 26, news broke that 83-year-old Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer was calling it a career. Appointed in 1994 by then-President Bill Clinton, Breyer was one of the longest tenured members of the Court in history.
Breyer’s announcement comes with Joe Biden, a Democrat, in the White House. As President, Biden has the honor of nominating a Justice to replace Breyer. The nomination would then go to the Senate for confirmation, and once confirmed, that person would become the next Supreme Court Justice of the United States. This would keep at least three liberal Justices on the Court for years to come.
Thanks to Republicans changing the rules on confirmation during the Trump Administration, a simple majority can confirm a Justice, with Vice President Kamala Harris allowed to cast a tiebreaker vote. This scenario happened during the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch, with then-Vice President Mike Pence breaking the tie.
Under the new confirmation rules, Donald Trump appointed three Justices in his one term as President. His last appointment was that of Amy Comey Barrett, who replaced the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg. This resulted in one less liberal and one more conservative leaning Justice. The current court structure has three liberal Justices, five that are conservative, and one that is conservative but sometimes votes liberal in Justice John Roberts.
The opening on the Supreme Court allows Biden to fulfill one of his campaign promises, which was to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court.
