‘GENUINELY PERPLEXED’

Justice Breyer’s Clerks: We Have No Idea Why He’s Not Retired Yet

Five of the Supreme Court justice’s former clerks told Insider that they’re confused as to why the 82-year-old hasn’t made way.

Calls for Justice Stephen Breyer to announce his retirement have been getting louder and louder ever since Sen. Mitch McConnell threatened to block a Biden Supreme Court pick in 2024—and even people who have worked with him don’t get why he hasn’t stepped down yet. Five of Breyer’s former clerks told Insider that they’re confused as to why the 82-year-old hasn’t made way to allow President Biden the chance to nominate what he has said would be the first Black woman for the court. “We’re genuinely perplexed as to why he’s decided to stay around,” one of the former clerks said. “If someone in the Senate gets sick or, because of some scandal, Democrats lose the majority, who knows when a Black woman will be appointed to the court? If anything goes wrong, this will be part of his legacy just like it’s part of Ginsburg’s.” Some of the clerks warned that putting pressure on Breyer could backfire as he doesn’t want his resignation to be “perceived as a political act.” The clerk added: “I don’t think [the pressure] is helpful. I doubt he’s happy with it.”