U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer speaks during an event at the Library of Congress for the 2022 Supreme Court Fellows Program hosted by the Law Library of the United States Congress, in Washington, February 17, 2022.
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Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer told the President Joe Biden that he will officially retire at noon on Thursday, hours after the court is set to issue the final two rulings of his current term.
Breyer’s letter to Biden was expectedas the 83-year-old justice said in January tthe hat he will leave at the end of its term. Only Wednesday morning did the court say that Thursday would be the final day for comments.
He will become replaced by Ketanji Brown Jackson, 51 years old, is currently a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Her nomination to the Supreme Court as the first Black woman to serve justice was confirmed by the Senate in April.
It was not immediately clear when Jackson would be sworn in to justice.
“It is my great honor to join as judge in the effort to uphold our Constitution and the Rule of Law,” Breyer told Biden in the letter Wednesday.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson smiles as Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the event commemorating her confirmation to the United States Supreme Court on the South Lawn of the White House on April 8, 2022 in Washington, DC .
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Breyer, who is af has only three liberal justices on the nine-member Supreme Court, has served there since 1994, after being nominated by President Bill Clinton. Jackson is expected to vote with other court libertarians, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, more often than she does with six court conservatives.
Breyer’s departure will come six days after the Supreme Court, in a major ruling, overturned its 1973 decision in Roe v. Wadeestablished that there is a federal right to abortion.
He joined two other court libertarians in a bitter disagreement with Friday’s decision, this gives the states ample comfort prohibit abortion altogether, severely limit the termination of pregnancy or make abortion legal.
Also last week, Breyer wrote a dissenting six-judge court ruling, which eliminated a New York state law requiring applicants for a permit to carry a firearm outside of their home. good reason” to do so. violates the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution.
Breyer writes: “Many States have attempted to address some of the dangers of gun violence just described by passing laws that limit, in a variety of ways, who can buy, carry or Use different weapons. “Today’s courts have placed a serious burden on States’ efforts to do so.”
