Liberal US Supreme Court justice to retire at end of his term, reports say

Liberal US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will retire at the end of his term, NBC News has reported.

Press secretary Jen Psaki said the White House had no additional details on the reports.

His retirement would give Joe Biden his first Supreme Court appointment of his presidency.

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President Bill Clinton appointed Mr Breyer in 1994 after Harry Blackmun stepped down from the role.

Mr Bryer is one of the three remaining liberal judges and at 83, he is the court’s oldest member.

The justice has been a pragmatic member of an increasingly conservative court, trying to force majorities with more moderate justices right and left of centre.

In 2020, former President Donald Trump appointed conservative justice, Amy Barrett after Ruth Bader Ginsburg died from cancer.

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Mr Breyer’s departure is expected to happen over the summer but it won’t change the conservative-liberal make-up, with Mr Biden likely to nominate a liberal.

The appointment will almost certainly be confirmed by the Senate, where Democrats have a slight majority.

Justice Clarence Thomas, a conservative, will be the oldest member of the court at the age of 73, once Mr Breyer steps down.

Who could President Biden nominate?

Experts have already started drawing up potential nominees, California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger, US Circuit Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, prominent civil rights lawyer Sherrilyn Ifill and US District Judge Michelle Childs, whom Mr Biden has nominated to be an appeals court judge.

Ms Childs is a favourite of Republican James Clyburn, who made a crucial endorsement of Mr Biden just before South Carolina’s presidential primary in 2020.

Who is Stephen Breyer?

Mr Breyer was often overshadowed by his fellow liberal Ms Ginsburg, but during his time on the Supreme Court, he has penned two opinions pieces in support of abortion rights on a court closely divided over the issue, and he laid out his growing discomfort with the death penalty in a series of dissenting opinions in recent years.

However, Breyer also shared views on displaying the Ten Commandments on government property, illustrating his search for a middle ground.

In 2005, he was the only member that barred Ten Commandments display in two Kentucky courthouses but allowed one to remain in Texas.

Mr Breyer served for 14 years on the First US Circuit Court of Appeals before moving up to the Supreme Court.

Born in San Francisco, Breyer became an Eagle Scout as a teenager and began a stellar academic career at Stanford, graduating with the highest honours.

He attended Oxford, where he received first-class honours in philosophy, politics and economics.

Mr Breyer then attended Harvard’s law school, where he worked on the Law Review and again, graduated with the highest honours.

His first job after law school was as a law clerk to Goldberg and he then worked in the Justice Department’s antitrust division before splitting time as a Harvard law professor and a lawyer for the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Mr Breyer and his wife, Joanna, a psychologist and daughter of the late British Conservative leader John Blakenham, have three children – daughters Chloe and Nell and a son, Michael – and six grandchildren.

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