Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer told President that he will officially retire at noon Thursday, and then immediately help swear in his successhours after the court is set to release the last two rulings of its current term.Breyer’s letter to Biden was expectedhat he would leave at the end of its term. It was only Wednesday morning that the court said that Thursday would be the last day for opinions to be released.He will be 51, who currently is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Her nomination to the Supreme Court as the first Black woman to serve as a justice was confirmed by the Senate in April.The Supreme Court’s press office on Wednesday said Jackson will be sworn in as the court’s 104th associate justice at noon Thursday.Chief Justice John Roberts will administer the constitutional oath to Jackson, and Breyer will administer the judicial oath in a ceremony at the court “before a small gathering of Judge Jackson’s family,” the press office said.Breyer told Biden in his letter dated Wednesday, wrote, “It has been my great honor to participate as a judge in the effort to maintain our Constitution and the Rule of Law.Breyer wrote a pointed dissent to a ruling by the court’s supermajority of six justices, which struck down a New York state law requiring applicants for a license to carry a gun outside of their homes to have a “proper cause” to do so, saying it violated the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.Many States have tried to address some of the dangers of gun violence just described by passing laws that limit, in various ways, who may purchase, carry, or use firearms of different kinds,” Breyer wrote. “The Court today severely burdens States’ efforts to do so

Supreme Court Justice Breyer Retiring Thursday—And Ketanji Brown Jackson Will Be Immediately Sworn In

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will retire on Thursday and Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will be immediately sworn in to replace him, ushering in the court’s first Black female justice—and bringing Breyer’s decades-long tenure on the court to an end as it wraps up a controversial term that saw Breyer’s conservative-leaning colleagues overturning Roe v. Wade. Before Breyer retires and Jackson gets sworn in, the court still has two notable opinions left to release. One, West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, will how the EPA can regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, potentially hamstringing the federal agency’s ability to fight climate change if the court rules against it. The other, Biden v. Texas, will the fate of the “Return to Mexico” immigration policy first imposed by the Trump administration, which the Biden administration has tried to get rid of but Republican-led states have fought to keep in place.Breyer was first confirmed to the Supreme Court in 1994 after being appointed by President Bill Clinton, following a legal career that included serving as counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, as an assistant special prosecutor on the Watergate scandal and as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, which President Jimmy Carter appointed him to in 1980. The left-leaning justice came under from the left to step down while Democrats had control of both the White House and Senate to ensure a left-leaning successor could be confirmed, something that he initially refused before announcing his retirement in January. Jackson was then confirmed by the Senate in a 53-47 vote in April. 51-year-old Jackson previously served on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals following stints as a federal district judge and a member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, and she will be both the first Black woman and the first former public defender to serve on the Supreme Court

Breyer makes it official: He’s leaving the Supreme Court on Thursday at noon

On his last full day as a sitting justice, Breyer attended a private conference session with his colleagues Wednesday. The justices reviewed a list of pending petitions, some tied to cases in which they had recently ruled, some related to new issues.Following tradition, Breyer will keep an office at the court, though he will move into smaller chambersThe fact that the court will issue final opinions and orders on the same day reflects a more expedited timeline than past terms. It suggests that the justices — who have been subject to death threats since the release of a draft opinion overturning  are eager for the momentous and divisive term to end as soon as possible A consistent liberal vote on the Supreme Court with an unflappable belief in the US system of government and a pragmatic view of the law, Breyer has sought to focus the law on how it could work for the average citizen. He was no firebrand and was quick to say that the Supreme Court couldn’t solve all of society’s problems. He often stressed that the court shouldn’t be seen as part of the political branches but recognized that certain opinions could be unpopular.In his later years on the court, he was best known for a dissent he wrote in 2015 in a case concerning execution by lethal injection. He took the opportunity to write separately and suggest to the court that it take up the constitutionality of the death penalty.In the opinion, Breyer wrote that after spending many years on the court reviewing countless death penalty cases, he had come to question whether innocent people had been executed. He also feared that the penalty was being applied arbitrarily across the country. He noted that, in some cases, death row inmates could spend years — sometimes in solitary confinement — waiting for their executions.

Justice Stephen Breyer to officially retire Thursday at noon, swear in Ketanji Brown Jackson

Justice Stephen Breyer to officially retire Thursday at noon, swear in Ketanji Brown Jackson

Judge Jackson was once Justice Breyer’s law clerJune

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Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to retire Thursday

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to retire Thursday”It has been my great honor to participate as a judge in the effort to maintain our Constitution and the Rule of Law,” Breyer wrote in a letter to President Joe Biden dated Wednesday.

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, the most senior member of the U.S. Supreme Court’s liberal wing, said he will officially step down from the bench at noon on Thursday, and the court announced he will then swear in his former law clerk — Ketanji Brown Jackson — to take his place on the bench, It has been my great honor to participate as a judge in the effort to maintain our Constitution and the Rule of Law,” Breyer wrote in a letter to President Joe Biden dated Wednesday.Breyer’s retirement fulfills the wish of Democrats who lobbied for his exit to make way for Biden’s first nominee to the court.Jackson will take both her oaths at noon — Chief Justice John Roberts administering the Constitutional Oath and Justice Breyer delivering the Judicial Oath. Her presence will mark the first time four women will be on the Supreme Court at the same time.Progressive activists had imposed unprecedented public pressure on Breyer, who was nominated in 1994 by President Bill Clinton, to retire. Breyer was first appointed to the federal bench in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter, going on to serve 13 years as an appellate judge until Clinton elevated him to replace Justice Harry Blackmun on the Supreme Court in 1994. The Senate confirmed him