{"id":135312,"date":"2022-01-27T14:52:47","date_gmt":"2022-01-27T22:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=135312"},"modified":"2022-01-27T14:52:47","modified_gmt":"2022-01-27T22:52:47","slug":"president-biden-on-the-retirement-of-supreme-court-justice-stephen-breyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=135312","title":{"rendered":"President Biden on the Retirement of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;Good afternoon.  I\u2019m going to begin by recognizing both Dr. Breyer and Dr. Biden \u2014 (laughs) \u2014 and \u2014 for being here.  And I can\u2019t tell you \u2014 this is sort of a bittersweet day for me.  Justice Breyer and I go back a long way, all the way back to the mid-\u201970s, when he first came on the Judiciary Committee, but that\u2019s another story.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/H9Gwm5xjjZ8\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m here today to express the nation\u2019s gratitude to Justice Stephen Breyer for his remarkable career of public service and his clear-eyed commitment to making our country\u2019s laws work for its people. <\/p>\n<p>And our gratitude extends to Justice Breyer\u2019s family for being partners in his decades of public service.  In particular, I want to thank his wife, Dr. Joanna Breyer, who is here today and who has stood by him for nearly six decades, and \u2014 with her fierce intellect, good humor, and enormous heart.  I want to thank you.  The country owes you as well.<\/p>\n<p>And Stephen Breyer\u2019s public service started early.  He served in the United States Army as a teenager and in all three branches of the federal government before he turned 40.  They were the good old days, weren\u2019t they?<\/p>\n<p>And as \u2014 he was a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Goldberg, a prosecutor in the Department of Justice, a member of the Watergate prosecution team.  And I first met Stephen Breyer when I was a senator on the Judiciary Committee and he started off as \u2014 taking care of one of the subcommittees for Teddy, but then became Chief Counsel during the tenure as \u2014 as Ted\u2019s chairman- \u2014 chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond his intellect and hard work and legal insight, he was famous for biking across Washington virtually every day for a face-to-face meeting with a Republican chief counsel \u2014 the ranking Republican counsel.  And over breakfast, they\u2019d discuss what would they do for the country together.  Whereas, in those days, we tried to do things together.  They \u2014 that spirit stuck with me when I took over the Judiciary Committee as Chair after Senator Kennedy\u2019s tenure. <\/p>\n<p>And it was my honor to vote to confirm Justice Breyer to serve in the United States Supreme Court \u2014 the Court of Appeals first, in 1980. <\/p>\n<p>And then, 14 years later, in 1994, I got to preside as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee over his Supreme Court confirmation hearings. <\/p>\n<p>We were joking with one another when he walked in: Did we ever think that he would have served decades on the Court and I\u2019d be President of the United States on the day he came in to retire?  And he looked at it \u2014 anyway, I won\u2019t tell you what he said.  I\u2019m joking.<\/p>\n<p>But I was proud and grateful to be there at the start of this distinguished career on the Supreme Court, and I\u2019m very proud to be here today on his announcement of his retirement. <\/p>\n<p>You know, during his confirmation hearings, way back in 1994, nominee Stephen Breyer said, quote, \u201cThe law must work for [the] people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He explained to us his faith that our complex legal system has a single purpose: to help the people who make up our country.  It was a different time, of course.  But his brilliance, his values, his scholarship are why Judge Breyer became Justice Breyer by an overwhelming bipartisan vote at the time. <\/p>\n<p>Today, Justice Breyer announces his intention to step down from active service after four decades \u2014 four decades on the federal bench and 28 years on the United States Supreme Court. <\/p>\n<p>His legacy includes his work as a leading scholar and jurist in administrative law, bringing his brilliance to bear to make the government run more efficiently and effectively. <\/p>\n<p>It includes his stature as a beacon of wisdom on our Constitution and what it means. <\/p>\n<p>And through it all, Justice Breyer has worked tirelessly to give faith to the notion that the law exists to help the people. <\/p>\n<p>Everyone knows that Stephen Breyer has been an exemplary justice \u2014 fair to the parties before him, courteous to his colleagues, careful in his reasoning.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s written landmark opinions on topics ranging from reproductive rights to healthcare, to voting rights, to patent laws, to laws protecting our environment, and the laws that protect our religious practices. <\/p>\n<p>His opinions are practical, sensible, and nuanced.  It reflects his belief that a job of a judge is not to lay down a rule, but to get it right \u2014 to get it right. <\/p>\n<p>Justice Breyer\u2019s law clerks and his colleagues, as many of the press here know, describe him and his work ethic \u2014 his desire to learn more, his kindness to those around him, and his optimism for the promise of our country.  And he has patiently sought common ground and built consensus, seeking to bring the Court together. <\/p>\n<p>I think he\u2019s a model public servant in a time of great division in this country.  Justice Breyer has been everything his country could have asked of him. <\/p>\n<p>And he\u2019s appeared before \u2014 when he appeared before the Judiciary Committee almost three decades ago, we all had high hopes for the mark he would leave on history, the law, and the Constitution.  And he\u2019s exceeded those hopes in every possible way. <\/p>\n<p>Today is his day \u2014 our day to commend his \u2014 his life of service and his life on the Court.  But let me say a few words about the critically important work of selecting his successor. <\/p>\n<p>Choosing someone to sit on the Supreme Court, I believe, is one of the most serious constitutional responsibilities a President has.  Our process is going to be rigorous.  I will select a nominee worthy of Justice Breyer\u2019s legacy of excellence and decency. <\/p>\n<p>While I\u2019ve been studying candidates\u2019 backgrounds and writings, I\u2019ve made no decisions except one: The person I will nominate will be someone with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience, and integrity, and that person will be the first Black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court. <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s long overdue, in my view.  I made that commitment during the campaign for President, and I will keep that commitment. <\/p>\n<p>I will fully do what I said I\u2019d do: I will fulfill my duty to select a justice not only with the Senate\u2019s consent, but with its advice.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ve heard me say in other nomination processes that the Constitution says seek the \u201cadvice and consent,\u201d but the advice as well of the Senate.  I\u2019m going to invite senators from both parties to offer their ideas and points of view. <\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ll also consult with leading scholars and lawyers.  And I am fortunate to have advising me in this selection process Vice President Kamala Harris.  She\u2019s an exceptional lawyer, a former Attorney General of the State of California, a former member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.  <\/p>\n<p>I will listen carefully to all the advice I\u2019m given, and I will study the records and former cases carefully.  I\u2019ll meet with the potential nominees.  And it is my intention \u2014 my intention to announce my decision before the end of February. <\/p>\n<p>I have made no choice at this point.  Once I select a nominee, I\u2019ll ask the Senate to move promptly on my choice.<\/p>\n<p>In the end, I will nominate a historic candidate, someone who is worthy of Justice Breyer\u2019s legacy and someone who, like Justice Breyer, will provide incredible service on the United States Supreme Court. <\/p>\n<p>Justice Breyer, on behalf of all the American people, I want to thank you and your family \u2014 and your family for your tremendous service to our nation.<\/p>\n<p>And I\u2019m going to yield the floor to you, Mr. Justice.<\/p>\n<p>I appreciate it.<\/p>\n<p>JUSTICE BREYER:  Well, thank you.  Thank you, Mr. President.  That is terribly nice.  And believe me, I hold it right here.  It\u2019s wonderful. <\/p>\n<p>And I thought about what I might say to you.  And I\u2019d like to say something I enjoy is talking to high school students, grammar school students, college students, even law school students.  And they\u2019ll come around and ask me what \u2014 what is the \u2014 \u201cWhat is it you find particularly meaningful about your job?  What, sort of, gives you a thrill?\u201d <\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s not such a tough question for me to answer.  It\u2019s the same thing day one almost up to day \u2014 I don\u2019t know how many. <\/p>\n<p>But the \u2014 what I say to them is: Look, I sit there on the bench, and after we hear lots of cases \u2014 and after a while, the impression \u2014 it takes a while, I have to admit \u2014 but the impression you get is, you know \u2014 as you well know, this is a complicated country; there are more than 330 million people.  And my mother used to say, \u201cIt\u2019s every race.  It\u2019s every religion.\u201d  And she would emphasize this: \u201cAnd it\u2019s every point of view possible.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>And it\u2019s a kind of miracle when you sit there and see all of those people in front of you \u2014 people that are so different in what they think.  And yet, they\u2019ve decided to help solve their major differences under law. <\/p>\n<p>And when the students get too cynical, I say, \u201cGo look at what happens in countries that don\u2019t do that.\u201d  And that\u2019s there.  I take this around at my job.  (Holds up a copy of the Constitution of the United States of America.)  People have come to accept this Constitution, and they\u2019ve come to accept the importance of a rule of law. <\/p>\n<p>And I want to make another point to them.  I want to say: Look, of course people don\u2019t agree, but we have a country that is based on human rights, democracy, and so forth. <\/p>\n<p>But I\u2019ll tell you what Lincoln thought, what Washington thought, and what people today still think: It\u2019s an experiment.  It\u2019s an experiment.  That\u2019s what they said. <\/p>\n<p>And Joanna paid each of our grandchildren a certain amount of money to memorize the Gettysburg Address.  (Laughs.)  And the reason \u2014 the reason that \u2014 what we want them to pick up there and what I want those students to pick up \u2014 if I can remember the first two lines \u2014 is that: Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought \u2014 created upon this \u2014 here a new country, a country that was dedicated to liberty and \u201cthe proposition that all men are created equal,\u201d conceived in liberty \u2014 those are his words \u2014 and \u201cdedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>He meant women too. <\/p>\n<p>And we are now \u201cengaged in a great civil war\u201d to determine \u201cwhether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>See, those are the words I want to see: \u201can experiment.\u201d  And that\u2019s what he thought.  It\u2019s an experiment.<\/p>\n<p>And I found some letters that George Washington wrote where he said the same thing: \u201cIt\u2019s an experiment.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>That experiment existed then because even the liberals in Europe, you know, they\u2019re looking over here, and they\u2019re saying, \u201cIt\u2019s a great idea in principle, but it\u2019ll never work.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut we\u2019ll show them it does.\u201d  That\u2019s what Washington thought.  And that\u2019s what Lincoln thought.  And that\u2019s what people still think today.<\/p>\n<p>And I say, \u201cOh, I want you\u2026\u201d \u2014 and I\u2019m talking to the students now.  I say, \u201cI want you to pick just this up: It\u2019s an experiment that\u2019s still going on.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>And I\u2019ll tell you something: You know who will see whether that experiment works?  It\u2019s you, my friend.  It\u2019s you, Mr. High School Student.  It\u2019s you, Mr. College Student.  It\u2019s you, Mr. Law School Students.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s us, but it\u2019s you.  It\u2019s that next generation, and the one after that \u2014 my grandchildren and their children.  They\u2019ll determine whether the experiment still works.<\/p>\n<p>And, of course, I am an optimist.  And I\u2019m pretty sure it will. <\/p>\n<p>Does it surprise you that that\u2019s the thought that comes into my mind today?  I don\u2019t know. <\/p>\n<p>But thank you.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Doctor, I don\u2019t know that you\u2019ve ever been to the White House and the Lincoln Bedroom, but I invite both of you to come and stay.  And the Lincoln Bedroom has, against the wall between the windows, looking out, a handwritten copy of the Gettysburg Address written by Lincoln, in that bedroom, allegedly \u2014 the sitting room.<\/p>\n<p>And so, you\u2019ve got to come and see it.  And even if you can\u2019t come and stay, bring your grandchildren so they can see it as well.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you all so very, very much for being here. <\/p>\n<p>And I\u2019m not going to take any questions because I think it\u2019s inappropriate to take questions with the Justice here.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s still sitting on the bench, and \u2014 I\u2019ll give you your mask back.  And \u2014 but you\u2019ll have plenty of opportunities to get me later today and for the rest of the week, and next week too. <\/p>\n<p>So, thank you very much.  Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;Good afternoon. I\u2019m going to begin by recognizing both Dr. Breyer and Dr. Biden \u2014 (laughs) \u2014 and \u2014 for being here. And I can\u2019t tell you \u2014 this is sort of a bittersweet day for me. Justice Breyer and I go back a long way, all the way back to the mid-\u201970s, when [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":135313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Fullscreen-capture-1272022-24812-PM.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=135312"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135314,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135312\/revisions\/135314"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/135313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=135312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=135312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=135312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}