Former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer has indicated that he supports term limits on the high court if the terms are long.
“I don’t think it’s harmful,” Breyer, 85, said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” when asked about age restrictions.
He then turned the conversation to the concept of potential term limits, saying, “Terms are going to have to be long. Why long? We don’t want people appointed to the Supreme Court thinking about their next job.” Because I think so.”
Breyer suggested that if there were term limits, he might have been able to avoid “making difficult decisions” about the timing of his retirement.
With President Joe Biden taking office in 2021, the Democratic Party has come under pressure from progressives demanding Breyer’s resignation in order to give liberals three seats.
They are troubled by the death of former Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2020 at age 87, which elevated Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the high court and gave conservatives six seats. The road was opened.
A similar situation is currently occurring with Justice Sonia Sotomayor, 69. reportedly Traveled with a doctor. Some progressive voices are urging her to resign while Democrats still hold the White House and the Senate.
Ultimately, Breyer, who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton in 1994, resigned after the landmark 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Authority and was replaced by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Breyer strongly opposed the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which enshrined the public’s right to abortion, but refrained from going beyond what he had already said on the controversial topic.
“We expected a lot of issues to come before the court stemming from the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade,” Breyer said. “We felt strongly about that incident.”
Ahead of Dobbs’ landmark decision, the draft was reported by Politico and shocked the nation.
Asked if he was angry about the leak, Breyer said: “I’m trying to be as calm, rational and serious as possible.” “I think it was unfortunate.”
Breyer teased that he had a “hypothesis” about the leaker, but did not elaborate, other than to say, “I would be surprised if it was a judge.”
Chief Justice John Roberts had sought a more limited decision that would allow states to ban abortion procedures after 15 weeks of pregnancy, but other justices to his right went further, ruling out Roe completely. Discarded.
“I usually wanted a compromise,” Breyer said.
Breyer, who served in five presidential administrations, will publish a new book, “Reading the Constitution: Why We Choose Pragmatism over Textualism,” which focuses on the judicial philosophy favored by conservatives.
Textualism is a judicial philosophy that focuses on the plain text of the law. Originalism is a similar philosophy, but takes into account the author’s intent.
Breyer believes that the Constitution provides a set of principles that should be interpreted by posterity.
“That’s why it’s so attractive,” you say. [with] Text-oriented people just need to read this. Great, we have the answer,” Breyer said.
“That’s easy,” he said. “It looks good, but in my opinion it doesn’t work very well.”
