If/When Biden Wins, Should Justice Breyer Retire During His Term?

[sfstaxprep]

He'll be 86 by the time 2024 election comes around.

[Drunken Irishman]

1. If we win the Senate I fully expect it.

[Upthevibe]

2. YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!n/t

[sfstaxprep]

3. I Agree

Then it might have to be by 2022, if we take the Senate this year, just to be safe.

That's a shame, I really like him a lot.

[tritsofme]

4. Assuming a Democratic Senate majority, the latest he could easily retire is summer 2022

He should definitely strongly consider retiring before then, to ensure he is replaced by a Democratic president and Senate. It would surprise me if he stayed around past the next midterms.

[DonaldsRump]

5. Honestly, and with all respect, immediately

If we get the WH and Senate, we need to move quickly.

Joe can't and shouldn't be involved in discussions like this. However, hopefully Justice Breyer's family and friends will encourage him to do so. It's a lifetime appointment, so it is totally his decision, but I am not sure what is to be gained.

He is a very smart fellow, and I am sure he realizes more than anyone what is at stake.

[Claustrum]

7. And he is seeing how we are losing the RBG seat unfold.

It's impossible that he isn't thinking about the timing of his own retirement so that a democratic replacement can be made.

[DonaldsRump]

8. And who would want to spend their "golden" years

Last edited Wed Sep 23, 2020, 12:42 AM - Edit history (1)

hanging out with Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Sam Alito!?!

I'd rather be fishing or RVing!

[tritsofme]

21. There's no reason for Breyer to resign "immediately" unless he wants to.

He would have a two year window before the midterms, being able to participate in at least two more terms before there is a risk Republicans could interfere.

[DonaldsRump]

23. Ummm....that's kinda' what I said?

My view is that this is the pragmatic view and hopefully he will do that in year one to give plenty of time for a successor to be named and installed so that it doesn't become another election year issue.

If Breyer waits until the second term, beginning in October 2021, all of a sudden the decision will likely be kicked into the election year of 2022. However, if he announces he is retiring at the end of the first term during a Joe Biden presidency, that would be around July 2021, giving plenty of time for a Democratic-controlled Senate to confirm a new appointee by the end of 2021, and more like October 2021.

As I said, it's his choice. Not yours, not mine.

[BainsBane]

29. and people need to volunteer to make that happen

Yet few do. Spinning theories won't get Biden and a Dem Senate elected.

[OAITW r.2.0]

6. Graduated Holy Cross, 1975.

Pretty sure Clarance Thomas lived in the Blacks Only dorm....cuz he supported black rights.?...or maybe he would have met white liberals that would have challenged his worldview?

[MFM008]

9. i think Breyer

would like to have a year or 2 to enjoy his life.

[Demsrule86]

17. We need to do it right away. What if a senator from a red state dies?

[roamer65]

10. Nominate Merrick Garland.

And ram it through the Senate with no debate if we win the majority.

[Demsrule86]

16. Too old. We need young judges.

[Salviati]

19. Right. We need to stop trying to think about "symbolic victories"

And push for actual victories instead.

While it might be righting an injustice to seat him on the court, it is not the best move we can make.

[moonscape]

30. And to the left of moderate at this point. n/t

[DirkLerxst]

25. No. He is 67 now. A horrible decision.

Every judge Biden nominates needs to be younger than 55. We need them on the court for 25-30 years, not just 10 or so.


It's a crime what happened to Garland.... but no symbolic victories.


YOUNG HEALTHY PROGRESSIVE JUDGES ONLY.

[BainsBane]

28. I want Biden/Harris

to nominate the most flagrantly leftist judge they can possibly find to rub it in the face of the party of evil.

Garland was a compromise choice meant to garner GOP support. If the Dems control and Senate and get a chance to nominate a justice, the person ought to make the GOP flip out. They deserve the pain.

[Rice4VP]

11. On day 1

Biden needs to nominate a 40 something year old heathy Black woman with no baggage

[Polybius]

34. On day 1?

Who's retiring for him to fill?

[Rice4VP]

38. Breyer is 82. He needs to retire at noon

on Inauguration Day

[VarryOn]

12. Absolutely...

A long time from now, Justices are going to remember and learn (hopefully) from this avoidable situation. If a Justice is over 70 or so, has a Democratic President and Senate, they need to resign. It might mean truncating the term of an otherwise invaluable Justice, but, as we are seeing, rolling the dice can be risky.

[Patterson]

13. Of course. Didn't we learn anything from RBG?

[Salviati]

20. Lots of people on both sides of the isle are incredibly resistant to learning lessons.

[Skittles]

31. I am disgusted by the number of people who don't get it

I mean, it is mind-boggling.

[Klaralven]

36. We didn't learn from Thurgood Marshall who was replaced by Clarence Thomas.

[Thekaspervote]

14. Absolutely yes!

[Demsrule86]

15. Yes as soon ad possible.

[kentuck]

18. I think there should be an age limit on Supreme Court Justices.

Somewhere between 75-80.

Justices need to be sharp of mind. The mind does tend to deteriorate in some people as they get older. The laws sometimes require very deep thought.

[frazzled]

22. You think Ginsberg and Breyer have not been sharp of mind?

Look, the only valid reason to say older justices should retire is that they are more likely to become ill and/or die after a certain age. And then that would only apply to justices with whom you agree (we’d be happy if a very conservative justice died, as Scalia did during Obama’s term), because you don’t want to run the risk of them dying during a time when the opposition party holds power. And even that’s lame. My dad lived to 100; my mom is about to turn 95. People are living longer and staying active.

There has been nothing wrong with the mental ability of our older justices. Or their work ethic: RBG was tireless in her work, even in the face of severe illness. Breyer is sharp as a tack too. I’d say a few younger justices might have more to question about their mental “sharpness.”

[Buckeyeblue]

37. I like 75.

I base this on the older people I'm around. Having a SC justice pass away in office does not create the best circumstances to replace them. For one thing, it's a sad time for their colleagues. The other is there seems to be a rush to replace them.

Since W's first term we have had 3 sitting justices pass away (one-third of the court).

If we knew the term in which a justice was going to retire, I think the transitions would be better. Since this would require a constitutional amendment, maybe we grandfather judges who are 70 or older. And we also would need in an amendment the timeframe under which the Senate must act to confirm the nomination.

[DirkLerxst]

24. Absolutely yes.

It was the one mistake RBG made during her time on the court. She should've retired in early 2014 when it was very likely the GOP was going to win the Senate majority later that year.

Water under the bridge now... but I don't expect Breyer to make the same mistaken assumptions.

[radius777]

26. Both RBG and Breyer should've retired in 2013

when we had the Senate. Obama could've put in two young justices. Now we're fucked, at least in the short term.

If Biden wins Breyer must retire in 2021 and we can get through a justice under the radar (how the Gorsuch hearings went) so it isn't an issue the midterms.

[BainsBane]

27. You know, if Democrats could win elections

and keep unified, we might be able to have the kind of influence over the courts, both SCOTUS and the lower levels, that we wouldn't have to be egging on perfectly healthy justices to retire. How about working to win future elections instead of conceding to the GOP?

Whether Breyer retires isn't up to any of us.

All these convoluted solutions for the courts neglects the key issue: Democrats and the left has failed to unify so the result is the most right-wing court system in the industrialized world. This is the court the never Hillary people gave us, and it's the court they wanted. And then, look how few people are actually interested in volunteering to make calls in order to win this and future elections. If they did, perhaps we wouldn't be in this fucked up situation.

[BGBD]

32. Yes.

I will never understand why RBG didn't retire when Obama has a Democratic controlled Senate. She could probably have handpicked her successor even.

[ecstatic]

33. Yes, but Congress needs to add seats no matter what.

It's time to get even. No more games or bullshitting around while the other side systematically guts the country.

[Squinch]

35. For the love of God, YES!