Breyer officially announces his retirement, to leave U.S Supreme Court on Thursday noon

The White House was notified that Justice Stephen Breyer would retire on Thursday, June 30, at noon ET. According to Justice Stephen Breyer's letter to President Biden, the opportunity to participate as a judge for the Constitution and the Rule of Law was a high honour to maintain Constitutional and judicial integrity. As the 116th member of the court, Ketanji Brown Jackson will take the oath of office later this month.

Breyer attended a conference session with colleagues on Wednesday, his last full day as a justice. The justices then examined a variety of petitions on the court's docket, some relating to recent verdicts, others to new issues. As tradition dictates, Justice Breyer maintains an office at the court, though he will relocate to a smaller quarter. The court is more likely to issue final statements and rulings on the same day as before, implying a faster timeline. The current state of affairs indicates that the justices, who have been threatened with death since a draft opinion overturning Roe vs Wade, are eager for this consequential and estranging term to be over instantaneously. Environmental issues and immigration are two of the most prominent cases awaiting resolution.

In 1994, then-President Bill Clinton appointed Breyer to the court; in January, he declared his plans to retire. As a result, Democrats breathed a collective sigh of relief after the highly anticipated decision was announced. Democrats feared they could lose the seat to a future Republican president if the 83-year-old jurist ignored an aggressive pressure campaign from the left, urging him to resign while Biden had a clear path to succeed him.


With an unwavering belief in the US system of government, Breyer has set out to make the law accessible to the average citizen. Despite his reputation as a firebrand, he quickly pointed out that the Supreme Court could not solve all society's problems. Even though he believed the court should not be considered part of the political system, he acknowledged that certain opinions might be unpopular.

Jackson, who replaces Breyer on the Supreme Court, was confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 53-47 in April; she will become the nation's first Black female justice.