2 weeks ago
Retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer brushed disconnected calls that Justice Sonia Sotomayor should measurement down from nan bench, saying she is simply a "spring chicken."
"I deliberation anybody tin opportunity what he wants, you know. And I was 83 years old, conscionable astir I think, erstwhile I retired. But Justice Sotomayor is not, she is simply a outpouring chicken," Breyer told Fox News big Shannon Bream connected "Fox News Sunday."
There person been calls successful caller months, including successful op-eds specified arsenic nan 1 published successful nan Atlantic, that Sotomayor discontinue nether nan Biden administration. The caller push for nan justness to resign comes up of nan statesmanlike election, pinch left-leaning pundits and academics arguing President Biden and nan Democrat-controlled Senate could o.k. a campaigner earlier nan statesmanlike election.
"I deliberation location is simply a difference. She is simply a outpouring chickenhearted and I'm an aged rooster. There we are. But group tin opportunity what they want. The determination astir what to do is up to nan judge," Breyer said.
FORMER SUPREME COURT JUSTICE STEPHEN BREYER SOUNDS OFF ON DOBBS DECISION: 'TOO MANY QUESTIONS'
Retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer joins "Fox News Sunday." (FOX NEWS )
"You tin enactment location until you are 150 years aged if you want," he said of nan life assignment to nan nation’s highest court. "But successful my mind, astatine slightest location did travel a clip and I conjecture 83, 84, 85 – I don't cognize precisely really galore 80s you want successful location – but it's clip for different person," he said.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor speaks astir her profession and authoring respective books, including an autobiography, "The Beloved World of Sonia Sotomayor," Aug. 17, 2019, astatine nan Mississippi Book Festival successful Jackson, Mississippi. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)
Sotomayor is 69 years aged and has served connected nan tribunal since 2009, erstwhile President Barack Obama appointed her to nan position pursuing nan status of Justice David Souter astatine nan property of 69. Sotomayor, who has Type 1 diabetes, is nan oldest liberal-leaning Supreme Court justice, but younger than some Justice Samuel Alito, 74, and Justice Clarence Thomas, 75, who are some conservative.
FORMER JUSTICE BREYER THROWS COLD WATER ON THEORY DOBBS LEAK CAME FROM A JUSTICE: 'I'D BE AMAZED'
Members of nan Supreme Court airs for their charismatic photograph connected Oct. 7, 2022. They are, seated from left, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, Justices Samuel Alito and Elena Kagan, and, opinionated from left, Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)
Liberal pundits argue that if Sotomayor does not discontinue nether nan Biden administration, Republicans could return power of nan White House and Senate pursuing nan election, meaning Sotomayor would person to stay connected nan chair until Democrats resume power to guarantee a liberal-leaning justness is nominated, aliases consequence losing nan spot to a new, younger blimpish justness if presumed GOP nominee Donald Trump takes nan White House.
Breyer besides reflected connected his relationship pinch nan precocious Justice Antonin Scalia successful his question and reply pinch "Fox News Sunday," contempt nan 2 having wildly different ineligible opinions. The question and reply comes arsenic Breyer touts his caller book, "Reading nan Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism," which is captious of blimpish justices for their determination to overturn Roe v. Wade.
FORMER SCOTUS JUSTICE STEPHEN BREYER CALLS DOBBS RULING LEAK ‘UNFORTUNATE’ IN NEW INTERVIEW
Breyer is simply a pragmatist, meaning he views laws arsenic being created by circumstantial societal contexts, while textualism interprets laws and the Constitution based on its "plain meaning," not its intent, law definitions show.
Breyer said that years ago, he and Scalia, a blimpish stalwart who identified arsenic a textualist, visited students successful Lubbock, Texas, astatine a shot stadium wherever nan 2 justices debated ineligible opinions while illustrating to students nan brace were still adjacent friends contempt nan ideological differences.
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia testifies earlier a House subcommittee connected Capitol Hill successful Washington May 20, 2010. (Reuters)
BREYER WAS RELENTLESSLY BULLIED BY THE LEFT TO GET OUT BEFORE REPUBLICANS SEIZE THE SENATE
"They'd never seen a Supreme Court judge, and we talked astir it, and earlier you cognize it… it was clear to them, we liked each other. It was besides clear we didn't agree. So I said, ‘Look, this document, written much than 200 years ago, 1788, 1789.’ I'd say, 'Look, hey, things person changed. The values don't change. The state of reside stands for definite values, but what it's applying to changes.' So I say, you know, 'Nino, George Washington did not cognize astir nan internet,'" he recounted.
"And Nino says, ‘I knew that,’" Breyer recounted of his debates pinch Scalia, whom he affectionately calls "Nino." Scalia abruptly died of a bosom onslaught successful 2016 astatine nan property of 79.
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"So he says, 'Stephen, nan problem pinch your approach, looking astatine these different things is it's excessively complicated. It's excessively complicated. You're nan only 1 who tin do it.'… But past I opportunity to him, ‘If we travel your approach, we’ll person a Constitution that nary 1 would want.' And truthful location you person nan principle of nan argument," he added.
