UPDATED: 27 JAN 2022 01:10 PM EST
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer formally announced his plans to depart the judiciary after more than four decades on the bench and set in motion plans for President Joe Biden to nominate his successor later this year.
Biden said Thursday that he intends to nominate Breyer's replacement by the end of February. But he spent the bulk of his remarks lauding the retiring justice for his "practical, sensible and nuanced" judicial record.
"I think he's a model public servant in a time of great division in this country," Biden added. "Justice Breyer’s been everything his country could have asked of him.”
The president noted that his relationship with Breyer dates to the 1970s, when Biden first joined the Senate, and that he presided over Breyer's 1994 confirmation as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"I was proud and grateful to be at the start of the distinguished career on the Supreme Court, and I'm very proud to be here today on the announcement of his retirement," Biden said.
Breyer sent a letter to the White House on Thursday ahead of his event with the president making official his intention to retire this summer, pending his successor's confirmation. Breyer, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, stated that he intends to step down from the bench during the high court’s summer recess — “typically late June or early July” — if a new justice is in place by that time.
In his letter, Breyer wrote that he “enormously appreciate[s] the privilege of serving as part of the federal judicial system” — a tenure that stretched more than four decades, including close to 28 years on the Supreme Court.
At Thursday's event, Breyer reflected on his admiration for the court, its responsibilities and his opportunity to be a member of the bench.
“It's kind of miracle, when you sit there and see all those people in front of you — people that are so different in what they think, and yet they've decided to help solve their major differences under law,” he said.
At one point the retiring justice held up for effect a pocket-sized version of the Constitution.
“People have come to accept this Constitution, and they've come to accept the importance of a rule of law,” he said.
Breyer also encouraged younger generations to take up that mantle and recommit to the democratic process.
"It's us but it's you," he said. "It's that next generation, and the one after that; My grandchildren and their children. They'll determine whether the experiment still works. And, of course, I am an optimist and I am pretty sure it will."
News of Breyer’s retirement surfaced Wednesday, though the 83-year-old jurist told Biden of his decision some time last week.
The move will give Biden an opportunity to install the first Black woman to the Supreme Court — fulfilling a campaign promise that the White House reaffirmed Wednesday — and replace the court’s oldest member with someone decades younger.
Biden reiterated that vow, adding that "it's long overdue, in my opinion."
“I will select a nominee worthy of Justice Breyer's legacy of excellence and decency," he also said.
If Biden's end-of-February timeline holds, the nomination would fall during Black History month and just as Biden prepares to deliver his first State of the Union address before Congress on March 1.
Regardless of whom Biden nominates, the balance of the court will remain unchanged, maintaining its conservative lean in large part thanks to the three justices installed by President Donald Trump during his four years in office. With a firm advantage already in hand, conservatives have indicated they might opt against waging an all-out effort against Breyer's eventual successor, even amid a 50-50 Senate.
Breyer had been under considerable pressure from the left to retire while Democrats have control of the White House and Senate. That campaign that rankled the longtime jurist, who has fretted about the Supreme Court’s reputation as a nonpartisan actoramid a period of diminished trust in institutions and heightened political polarization.
