The Fort Worth Press - Stephen Breyer: pragmatic pillar of US Supreme Court

USD -
AED 3.673005
AFN 68.386442
ALL 93.021933
AMD 389.349314
ANG 1.803734
AOA 913.000031
ARS 1002.721397
AUD 1.53358
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.702057
BAM 1.854577
BBD 2.020785
BDT 119.602116
BGN 1.858799
BHD 0.376916
BIF 2956.030306
BMD 1
BND 1.344124
BOB 6.930721
BRL 5.790848
BSD 1.000863
BTN 84.433613
BWP 13.672612
BYN 3.275301
BYR 19600
BZD 2.017372
CAD 1.39639
CDF 2864.999911
CHF 0.88374
CLF 0.035265
CLP 973.069559
CNY 7.241401
CNH 7.24719
COP 4396.59
CRC 508.251983
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 104.558213
CZK 24.0877
DJF 178.22092
DKK 7.087555
DOP 60.364405
DZD 133.750861
EGP 49.678296
ERN 15
ETB 124.782215
EUR 0.950275
FJD 2.269701
FKP 0.789317
GBP 0.791103
GEL 2.740301
GGP 0.789317
GHS 15.887842
GIP 0.789317
GMD 71.000247
GNF 8627.008472
GTQ 7.726299
GYD 209.391416
HKD 7.782965
HNL 25.291226
HRK 7.133259
HTG 131.472895
HUF 390.756993
IDR 15903.25
ILS 3.732285
IMP 0.789317
INR 84.493503
IQD 1311.043259
IRR 42092.505939
ISK 138.290123
JEP 0.789317
JMD 158.639851
JOD 0.709302
JPY 154.656495
KES 129.249619
KGS 86.506766
KHR 4038.536303
KMF 467.499881
KPW 899.999621
KRW 1398.125025
KWD 0.30759
KYD 0.834076
KZT 497.17423
LAK 21976.521459
LBP 89633.50686
LKR 291.187013
LRD 181.150969
LSL 18.152914
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.883414
MAD 9.998293
MDL 18.214834
MGA 4685.233124
MKD 58.48862
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3397.999946
MOP 8.024142
MRU 39.785889
MUR 46.412517
MVR 15.460006
MWK 1735.461174
MXN 20.325297
MYR 4.464971
MZN 63.950307
NAD 18.152914
NGN 1680.590024
NIO 36.829479
NOK 11.03348
NPR 135.09167
NZD 1.703345
OMR 0.385001
PAB 1.000778
PEN 3.7981
PGK 4.029035
PHP 59.039501
PKR 278.226704
PLN 4.126669
PYG 7838.117183
QAR 3.649699
RON 4.729799
RSD 111.205995
RUB 101.000437
RWF 1380.157217
SAR 3.754257
SBD 8.355531
SCR 13.619994
SDG 601.497088
SEK 11.030315
SGD 1.343699
SHP 0.789317
SLE 22.575045
SLL 20969.504736
SOS 571.975839
SRD 35.43028
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.757041
SYP 2512.529858
SZL 18.142596
THB 34.647019
TJS 10.658746
TMT 3.5
TND 3.159078
TOP 2.342102
TRY 34.465475
TTD 6.776157
TWD 32.567494
TZS 2652.359028
UAH 41.269214
UGX 3693.413492
UYU 42.784805
UZS 12854.406494
VES 46.433371
VND 25422.5
VUV 118.722009
WST 2.791591
XAF 622.001915
XAG 0.032192
XAU 0.000375
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.761528
XOF 622.001915
XPF 113.087675
YER 249.924998
ZAR 18.116198
ZMK 9001.198706
ZMW 27.697968
ZWL 321.999592
  • BCC

    2.8100

    140.22

    +2%

  • SCS

    0.0450

    13.115

    +0.34%

  • BCE

    -0.3050

    26.695

    -1.14%

  • CMSD

    0.1630

    24.423

    +0.67%

  • NGG

    -0.4400

    62.83

    -0.7%

  • RIO

    -0.1150

    62.275

    -0.18%

  • JRI

    0.0050

    13.235

    +0.04%

  • GSK

    -0.0500

    33.3

    -0.15%

  • RELX

    0.3450

    45.455

    +0.76%

  • BTI

    -0.1150

    36.965

    -0.31%

  • CMSC

    0.1800

    24.7

    +0.73%

  • RBGPF

    -0.5000

    59.69

    -0.84%

  • AZN

    0.5200

    63.72

    +0.82%

  • RYCEF

    0.1900

    6.8

    +2.79%

  • BP

    0.2800

    29.36

    +0.95%

  • VOD

    -0.0350

    8.905

    -0.39%

Stephen Breyer: pragmatic pillar of US Supreme Court
Stephen Breyer: pragmatic pillar of US Supreme Court

Stephen Breyer: pragmatic pillar of US Supreme Court

Stephen Breyer, the oldest justice on the US Supreme Court and the senior member of the bench's liberal-leaning wing, boasts a record of pragmatism in the hundreds of opinions he has authored in his long career.

Text size:

The bespectacled California native, aged 83, was nominated to the nation's highest court by Democratic former president Bill Clinton, and US media reported Wednesday that he plans to retire at the end of the current term in June.

He has spent more than 25 years on the nine-member bench, which towards the end of his tenure has firmly leaned to the right of the political spectrum.

But being in the minority has not dimmed his jovial nature or passion for the work of the court. Breyer has insisted in his rulings on assessing real-world implications when deciding cases, rejecting the strict reading of the Constitution favored by some of his peers.

Breyer -- who carries an annotated copy of the Constitution with him in his jacket pocket -- is a fierce opponent of the death penalty, and has ruled in favor of abortion rights, same-sex marriage and environmental protection.

He has bristled at the notion of partisanship on the court.

"My experience of more than 30 years as a judge has shown me that, once men and women take the judicial oath, they take the oath to heart," he said in a 2021 lecture at Harvard Law School, his alma mater.

"They are loyal to the rule of law, not to the political party that helped to secure their appointment."

- From Harvard to high court -

Born on August 15, 1938 in San Francisco, Breyer was educated at Stanford, Oxford and Harvard -- a prestigious academic career that challenged his keen intellect.

He began his legal career in 1964 as a clerk to then-Supreme Court justice Arthur Goldberg and then spent time working in the Justice Department on antitrust matters, before serving as an assistant special prosecutor on Watergate in 1973.

He taught at Harvard University until 1980, when he got the nod from then-president Jimmy Carter to serve on the federal court of appeals in Boston, where he remained for more than a decade, eventually becoming its chief judge.

Breyer was initially considered for a Supreme Court spot in 1993, but his candidacy was marred by a revelation that he had failed to pay taxes for a part-time housekeeper.

A year later, he became Clinton's second nominee to the high court, after Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The pair would end up shoring up the liberal-progressive wing of the court for more than two decades.

- 'Not my job' -

Upon Joe Biden's arrival in the Oval Office, Breyer found himself drawn into a perennial discussion when the White House changes hands -- should older justices retire when a president of their own political persuasion takes office?

Biden's predecessor Donald Trump had appointed three justices to the Supreme Court, sealing a 6-3 right-leaning majority.

But Breyer has repeatedly decried injecting politics into the court, and did not answer the call from liberals to leave his lifetime appointment to ensure a like-minded replacement.

"If the public sees judges as politicians in robes, its confidence in the courts, and in the rule of law itself, can only diminish, diminishing the court's power," he said in 2021.

In an interview with AFP in 2016, Breyer -- who is a Francophile and speaks fluent French -- refused even to say what qualities an ideal candidate for the court would possess.

"I can't suggest who the president should appoint. It's not my job," Breyer said.

"Asking me a question about who should be appointed or how that process works is like asking for the recipe for chicken a la king from the point of view of the chicken," he quipped.

Breyer is married to psychologist Joanna Hare, a member of the British aristocracy. They have three children.

G.George--TFWP