File – Former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
(NewsNation) — After publishing a book this year titled “Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism Over Textualism,” retired Justice Stephen Breyer took time to speak with NewsNation and discuss I looked back over the years.
In a wide-ranging interview, Breyer spoke about the role politics played in his decision to retire in 2022.
Breyer said there were other factors as well, including the fact that he was the oldest member of the country’s highest court and the most senior member of the current three-member liberal bloc.
“I was about 83 years old,” he explained. “I hate to say it, but that’s the thing about old age. People get older.”
Breyer believed that no matter what, he would have to quit within a year or two.
“Who knows what the world will be like then?” Breyer said he thought at the time.
Asked how he feels about critics saying Supreme Court justices are politically motivated, Breyer disagrees.
“I think ‘political’ is a difficult word and I don’t think it’s the right word,” he said. “You’re there to solve cases according to the law.”
Breyer said in his 40 years on the bench, many of them on the Supreme Court, he had never seen a justice try to support his own political agenda.
“I can’t say they do that. I don’t think they do, and I can draw on my own experience,” Breyer said. “You can’t guarantee that no one will do that, right? But that’s not how it works.”
With so many different opinions about the Supreme Court, some might think that the justices don’t get along well with each other. Breyer said that while they may not all be best friends, they are professionals who can do a “difficult job” who can put aside their personal differences.
“It makes no sense to let personal differences enter into decisions that make a difference in people’s lives,” Breyer said.
