Judge Stephen Breyer warns Democrats against “wrapping up” the Supreme Court as a way to undo the current Conservative majority.
Breyer, the longest-serving of three Democrat-nominated judges, put forward his position shortly before President Biden announced a 36-member committee on Friday to consider the matter.
Breyer, 82, denounced the idea Thursday during a webcast lecture for Harvard Law School, saying it could “undermine the trust the court has gradually built.”
“What I’m trying to do is make those whose instincts prefer major structural changes or other similar institutional changes, such as forms of judicial wrapping, think long and hard before embodying those changes in the law,” Breyer said.
“I hope and expect that the court will retain its authority… which was difficult to win. But that authority, like the rule of law, depends on trust. A trust that the court is guided by the legal principle, not by politics. Structural changes prompted by the perception of political influence can only feed the latter perception and further erode that trust. “
The long-standing justice was ratified by the Senate in 1994. The other judges appointed by the Democrats are Elena Kagan, 60, and Sonia Sotomayor, 66, both nominated by former President Barack Obama.
Biden has historically opposed the court wrapping, but he also said last year that he would form the committee amid outrage from Democrats over more conservative Judge Amy Coney Barrett replacing late Liberal Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Friday turned down a reporter’s question about whether Breyer should step down anytime soon so Biden can name a younger replacement.
Psaki said at her daily press conference, “He believes this is a decision Judge Breyer will make if he decides it is time to no longer serve on the Supreme Court.”
For years, Democrats have tried to encourage Breyer to resign, instead of going to the office first and risking a more conservative replacement. During the Obama administration, there was discussion to offer him the ambassadorship in France.
Former Solicitor General Walter Dellinger said last year, “My suggestion was that the President have Breyer for lunch and say to him, ‘I believe historians will one day say that the three greatest American ambassadors to France Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Stephen G. Breyer. . ”
While some Democrats want to expand the court, Biden has been skeptical for decades.
In 1983, Biden said court wrapping was a “stupid idea” when President Franklin D. Roosevelt tried it in the 1930s because it undermined the court’s independence.
Biden promised to set up a court reform committee last year. But Biden also said that while he believed the Supreme Court “ got out of the whack, ” he was “ not a fan of court wrapping. ”
“The last thing we need to do is make the Supreme Court a political football. Whoever has the most votes gets what they want,” Biden told CBS News’ 60 Minutes in October.
Presidents come and go. Supreme Court justices remain for generations. “