US Supreme Court justice from 1994 to 2022 (born 1938)
Stephen Breyer
Official portrait, c. 2006
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
In office August 3, 1994 – June 30, 2022
Nominated by
Bill Clinton
Preceded by
Harry Blackmun
Succeeded by
Ketanji Brown Jackson
Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
In office March 1990 – August 3, 1994
Preceded by
Levin H. Campbell
Succeeded by
Juan R. Torruella
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
In office December 10, 1980 – August 3, 1994
Nominated by
Jimmy Carter
Preceded by
Seat established
Succeeded by
Sandra Lynch
Personal details
Born
Stephen Gerald Breyer
(1938-08-15) August 15, 1938 (age 85) San Francisco, California, U.S.
Political party
Democratic[1]
Spouse
Joanna Hare
(m. 1967)
Children
3
Relatives
Charles Breyer (brother)
Education
Stanford University (BA)
Magdalen College, Oxford (BA)
Harvard University (LLB)
Signature
Military service
Branch/service
United States Army
Years of service
1957–1965
Rank
Corporal
Unit
Strategic Intelligence (Reserve)
Stephen Breyer's voice
Breyers remarks on his retirement from the Supreme Court Recorded January 27, 2022
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Stephen Gerald Breyer (/ˈbraɪ.ər/BRY-ər; born August 15, 1938) is an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1994 until his retirement in 2022. He was nominated by President Bill Clinton, and replaced retiring justice Harry Blackmun. Breyer was generally associated with the liberal wing of the Court.[2] He is now the Byrne Professor of Administrative Law and Process at Harvard Law School.[3]
Born in San Francisco, Breyer attended Stanford University, and the University of Oxford as a Marshall Scholar, and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1964.[4] After a clerkship with Associate Justice Arthur Goldberg in 1964–65, Breyer was a law professor and lecturer at Harvard Law School from 1967 until 1980.[4] He specialized in administrative law, writing textbooks that remain in use today. He held other prominent positions before being nominated to the Supreme Court, including special assistant to the United States Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust and assistant special prosecutor on the Watergate Special Prosecution Force in 1973. Breyer became a federal judge in 1980, when he was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. In his 2005 book Active Liberty, Breyer made his first attempt to systematically communicate his views on legal theory, arguing that the judiciary should seek to resolve issues in a manner that encourages popular participation in governmental decisions.
On January 27, 2022, Breyer and President Joe Biden announced Breyer's intention to retire from the Supreme Court.[5] On February 25, 2022, Biden nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and one of Breyer's former law clerks, to succeed him.[6] The Senate confirmed Jackson on April 7, 2022, by a vote of 53–47.[7] Breyer remained on the Supreme Court until June 30, 2022.[8][9] Breyer wrote majority opinions in landmark Supreme Court cases such as Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. and Google v. Oracle and notable dissents questioning the constitutionality of the death penalty in cases such as Glossip v. Gross.
^Weiss, Debra Cassens (February 3, 2020). "Which SCOTUS justices are registered Democrats or Republicans? Fix the Court investigates". ABA Journal. Retrieved March 9, 2024.
^Kersch, Ken (2006). "Justice Breyer's Mandarin Liberty". University of Chicago Law Review. 73: 759–822. Archived from the original on December 26, 2017. As his decision to characterize both the New Deal and Warren Courts as centrally committed to democracy and 'active liberty' makes clear, Justice Breyer identifies his own constitutional agenda with that of these earlier courts, and positions himself, in significant respects, as a partisan of midcentury constitutional liberalism.
^"Justice Stephen Breyer returns to Harvard Law School". Harvard Law Today (Press release). July 15, 2022. Retrieved July 16, 2022.
^ abSmentkowski, Brian P. (August 11, 2021). "Stephen Breyer". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on October 9, 2021. Breyеr received bachelor's degrees from Stanford University (1959) and the University of Oxford (1961), which he attended on a Rhodes Scholarship, and a law degree from Harvard University (1964). In 1964–65 he clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Arthur J. Goldberg. He taught law at Harvard University from 1967 to 1994.
^Shear, Michael (January 27, 2022). "Biden calls Breyer a 'model public servant' and plans to name his successor soon". The New York Times. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
^Macaya, Melissa (February 25, 2022). "Biden nominates Ketanji Brown Jackson to Supreme Court". CNN. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
^Wagner, John; Alfaro, Mariana (April 7, 2022). "Post Politics Now: Biden gets his history-making nominee Jackson on the Supreme Court". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 7, 2022.
^Chowdhury, Maureen; Lee, Ji Min; Wagner, Meg; Macaya, Melissa (April 7, 2022). "Jackson won't be sworn in until Justice Stephen Breyer retires". CNN. Retrieved April 7, 2022.
^Blitzer, Ronn (June 29, 2022). "Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to retire Thursday: 'It has been my great honor'". Fox News. Retrieved June 29, 2022.
Stephen Gerald Breyer (/ˈbraɪ.ər/ BRY-ər; born August 15, 1938) is an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme...
served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review, and clerked for Justice StephenBreyer, whose seat she later assumed on the Supreme Court. From 2010 to 2014...
younger brother of StephenBreyer, who served as a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1994 to 2022. Breyer and his older brother Stephen were active in...
Look up Breyer in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Breyer may refer to: Charles Breyer (disambiguation), several people Gyula Breyer (1893–1921), Hungarian...
justices, including two chief justices; Massachusetts nine (including StephenBreyer and Elena Kagan); and Virginia eight, including three chief justices...
replace Justice StephenBreyer, who retired at the end of the court's 2022 term. On January 26, 2022, it was reported that Justice StephenBreyer planned to...
is the only veteran currently serving on the court. Retired justices StephenBreyer and Anthony Kennedy also served in the U.S. military. Justices are nominated...
President Clinton announced StephenBreyer as Blackmun's replacement on May 13, 1994, with the United States Senate confirming Breyer on July 29, 1994. Throughout...
financial deregulation measures. He appointed Ruth Bader Ginsburg and StephenBreyer to the U.S. Supreme Court. During the last three years of Clinton's...
considered her to be part of a centrist bloc along with Justices Roberts, StephenBreyer, and Anthony Kennedy. Still, FiveThirtyEight observed that Kagan voted...
already generally lean liberal. In January 2022, Supreme Court justice StephenBreyer, a moderate liberal nominated by Bill Clinton, announced his intention...
upheld the Act in Eldred v. Ashcroft in 2003, and Associate Justice StephenBreyer specifically mentioned "Happy Birthday to You" in his dissenting opinion...
the vacancy by StephenBreyer, who announced his retirement on January 27, 2022, at the age of 83. Jackson, a former law clerk of Breyer, was a judge on...
not join that assertion. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David Souter, StephenBreyer, and John Paul Stevens dissented, contending that the ruling ignored...
during President Bill Clinton's administration and was succeeded by StephenBreyer. Aside from Roe v. Wade, notable majority opinions by Blackmun include...
Jackson received her commission on April 8, 2022, however, Justice StephenBreyer did not assume senior status until noon on June 30, 2022, at which time...
longest-serving member since Anthony Kennedy's retirement in 2018. Since StephenBreyer's retirement in 2022, he is also the Court's oldest member. Thomas was...
University, and Stanford Law School. She clerked for Richard Posner and StephenBreyer. Her work appeared in The Atlantic, Big Think, Fortune, Stanford Social...
Roberts's nomination was the first Supreme Court nomination since StephenBreyer in 1994. On September 3, 2005, while Roberts's confirmation was pending...
courts of the United States List of supreme courts by country Stathis, Stephen W. (2014). Landmark Legislation 1774–2012: Major U.S. Acts and Treaties...
the Harvard Law Review by future United States Supreme Court Justice StephenBreyer in 1970, while he was still a legal academic. The article was a challenge...