Hailey Ruane
Staff Writer
Stephen G. Breyer, one of the nine Supreme Court Justices, announced his retirement after his term of almost 27 years on Jan. 26, According to Oyez, a website dedicated to archiving the Supreme Court, his career as a Supreme Court Justice began in 1994 when President Bill Clinton had appointed him for the second time after he lost the year prior to then Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Breyer served as one of three liberal justices, which maintained the split of 6-3 conservative to liberal justices. Breyer became a justice with the belief that the constitution should be interpreted and applied based upon current events in the country, rather than being cut and dry.
Breyer influenced two major court cases involving both abortion and the death penalty. Stenberg V. Carhart involved the question of incriminating practitioners who perform partial-birth abortions. Brayer took the stance that it is unconstitutional for doctors who go through with this procedure. Brayer delivered the decision himself. According to Oyez, he stated: “partial-birth abortion[s] violate the U.S Constitution, as interpreted by Casey and Roe. All those who perform abortion procedures using that method must fear prosecution, conviction, and imprisonment.”
The second court case that Breyer had an impact on was Gregg V. Georgia case in 1976 — which is one of the five major death penalty cases. This case centered around the question of the death penalty as a violation of the eighth and fourteenth amendments. Breyer and six of the other justices decided that the death penalty violated the eighth amendment as a cruel and unusual punishment, as reported by Oyez.
As of recently, many politicians have been urging him to retire since Democrats now have control of both the White House and the Senate, which could change during midterm elections in November. Erwin Chemerinsky, the Dean of The University of California Berkeley school of law explained to NBC that, “when the stewards of our system must put the good of an institution they love, and of the country they love, above their own interests. They have to recognize that no one, not even a brilliant justice, is irreplaceable, and that the risks presented by remaining are more than hypothetical.”
One potential candidate to replace Breyer is U.S Circuit Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. For her current position that she holds in the Circuit Court, she was nominated by Biden, making her chances of becoming the next justice very high.
Jackson may be a viable option as she served as an assistant federal public defender, which supports Biden’s ideal candidate that has experience outside of the typical justice such as working with BigLaw box. CNN reported that she has worked on cases involving Trump and the White House under his presidency.
Another primary candidate is California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger. She has direct experience with the Supreme Court, working as a clerk. Besides her experience with the Senate, CNN explained that she has argued 12 cases in front of the Supreme Court to represent the government.
The other candidate is South Carolina US District Court Judge J. Michelle Childs. Biden nominated Childs to the US Court of Appeals, although that nomination has yet to be confirmed. CNN reported that although Childs does not have the same Ivy League education as the rest of the justices do, her background in law supports her case. Besides working for a private practice, she has also worked as a state court trial judge on the South Carolina Circuit and as the deputy director Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.
There are numerous other candidates that Biden may appoint, and he must choose wisely considering that conservative justices outnumber the liberal justices. The chosen candidate must safely be able to get at least 50 votes in the Senate for approval.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill explained to NBC that Biden has the opportunity to bring “diversity, experience, and an even handed approach to the administration of justice.”
