Stephen Breyer Out!

Stephen Breyer retires.

Expect a partisan fight for the Supreme Court confirmation to begin. Associate Justice Stephen Breyer is reportedly retiring and it will be a confirmation of a new Supreme Court justice. With the divided Senate and the potential gridlock expected by Republicans, President Joe Biden will be fighting for his nominee to get confirmed. 

On top of that, we have Sen. Karen Manchin (D-WV) and Sen. Karen Sinema (D-AZ) potentially fucking it up as well.

The president is expected to pick a Black woman to be his nominee and it will be possibly Ketanji Brown Jackson in the front. The pick will be a historical accomplishment for African American women if it does become a conformation by the Senate.

She recently was appointed on the U.S. Circuit Court of The District of Columbia in 2021 to replace former Barack Obama Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland. 

Garland is the current Attorney General.

Breyer is one of the three remaining liberal justices, and his decision to retire after more than 27 years on the court allows President Joe Biden to appoint a successor who could serve for decades and, in the short term, maintain the current 6-3 split between conservative and liberal justices.

Biden said he will pick a Black woman for Supreme Court.

Democrats have already signal a fast track confirmation. They will waste no time to push forward the nominee. The Republicans will now find themselves at a crossroads.

The obstructionist leader, Karen McConnell (R-KY) and Republicans rammed through Karen Coney Barrett in the final weeks of the October despite his made up rule. In 2016, when Antonin Scalia passed away, former president Obama made his third pick. McConnell refused to take up the nomination causing it to expire. Then he change the filibuster rules to rush through Karen Gorsuch. Despite allegations of sexual abuse, Karen Kavanaugh was rushed through. In one term, Washed Up 45 managed to get three nominees through. 

If they oppose the nominee and it expires, Senate leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will signal a court packing.

At 83, Breyer is the court's oldest member. Liberal activists have urged him for months to retire while Democrats hold both the White House and the Senate — a position that could change after the midterm elections in November. They contended that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stayed too long despite her history of health problems and should have stepped down during the Obama administration.

Biden said in brief remarks to the press on Wednesday that he will leave it to Breyer to formally announce the retirement.

"Let him make whatever statement he's going to make and I'll be happy to talk about it later," he said.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki had earlier tweeted a statement, saying, "It has always been the decision of any Supreme Court Justice if and when they decide to retire, and how they want to announce it, and that remains the case today." The White House had no additional details or information to share, she added.

Ketanji Brown Jackson is the leading pick.

Republican Sen. Karen Graham (R-SC) who voted for Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, said if Democrats "hang together," as he expects, they will have the power to replace Breyer without one Republican vote. He is expected to oppose the nominee regardless of the qualifications.

"Elections have consequences, and that is most evident when it comes to fulfilling vacancies on the Supreme Court," Graham said in a statement.

Despite calls from some Biden supporters to add more seats to the Supreme Court to counter its current conservative lean, Breyer said in March that such a move would risk undermining confidence in the court. Advocates of court packing, he said, should "think long and hard before embodying those changes in law."

Appointed by former president Bill Clinton, Breyer came to the Supreme Court in 1994 and became one of the court's moderate-to-liberal members, though he often said it was misleading to label justices with such terms.

Breyer believed that interpreting the Constitution should be based on practical considerations, changing with the times. That put him at odds with conservative justices who said the court must be guided by the original intent of the founders.

"The reason that I do that is because law in general, I think, grows out of communities of people who have some problems they want to solve," he said in an interview.

Republicans will try to stall the nominee. The current Supreme Court will be ending in July and a new session will be starting in October. Biden will pick his nominee soon.