In January of 2022, after more than three decades on the Supreme Court, Justice Stephen G. Breyer announced that he’ll retire at the end of the current term, once his successor has been confirmed.
Born in San Francisco, Breyer received a BA in philosophy from Stanford, attended Oxford as a Marshall Scholar, and earned his law degree from Harvard University. He was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1994 by President Clinton. Breyer is known for his pragmatic approach to constitutional law, urging judges to consider both the purpose of statutory and constitutional text, as well as the potential consequences of specific rulings when deciding cases. His optimistic viewpoint, well-articulated in his books, describes judges as essential in building “productive working relationships with other institutions,” especially Congress and the Executive branches. His latest book, The Authority of the Court and the Peril of Politics (2021), is a reflection on the authority of the Supreme Court—both how that authority was gained, and how measures to restructure it could undermine the Court itself as well as the constitutional system of checks and balances that depends on it.
Stephen Breyer has been a guest on City Arts & Lectures several times. In this conversation, recorded on September 25, 2015, he talked with Marcia Coyle about his recently published book “The Court and the World”. Coyle is a lawyer, journalist, and the Chief Washington Correspondent for The National Law Journal, covering the U.S. Supreme Court and national legal issues.