Today in Supreme Court History: August 3, 1994

8/3/1994: Justice Stephen Breyer takes oath.

Justice Stephen Breyer

 

Comments

[Aladdin's Carpet]

I do hope that if he is replaced in the near future by Biden he is replaced by a pragmatist. The court needs more pragmatism. If its a full on progressive its just gonna get annoying.

I guess the issue with pragmatism is that it is too easy to implement your political beliefs into law, but liberal justices and conservative justices do that do without the pragmatism, and Breyer tries to modulate it. I hope the next one is more successful in limiting personal beliefs on law.

However, I dont think pragmatism is incompatible with being principled and objective, and ignoring policy preferences. Vainly, maybe, but I dont think it is.

[Dan Schiavetta]

Sotomayor is a "full-on progressive". Before that, the last full-on progressive who got onto the Court was Thurgood Marshall, in 1967. That's 44 years ago. Time to restore some balance.

[LawTalkingGuy]

Pragmatism is often over-rated when the results of “pragmatic” decisions in individual cases over the course of decades can lead to some pretty hollow rights overall. The Fourth Amendment is a good example of this. Sotomayor is the only one who seems to get that the effect of all the “pragmatic” decisions trying to balance all these interests over the years in reality just gave police so many ways around the right that it’s becoming hollow.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

Are you speaking defensively now?

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

The best defense is four new justices.

Start winning elections, clingers, starting with coming up with a legitimate prospect for that Pennsylvania seat, or . . . Joe Manchin may no longer be able to save you from progress.

Of course, that would mean making backwardness and diffuse intolerance more popular in a nation that becomes less bigoted, less backward, less White, less rural, and less religious daily.

I am content.

[Oscar_Diggs_of_Oz]

"I am content."

Are you a member of the House of Lords?

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

No. I am, however, a member of America's liberal-libertarian mainstream.

[Aladdin's Carpet]

Ginsburg wasn't progressive enough for you???

[Krychek_2]

Should Republican administrations also appoint pragmatists rather than full on conservatives?

[Aladdin's Carpet]

That's been my position, yes. I mean, Alito is somewhat pragmatic, as is Roberts. Both have conservative streaks, Alito moreso. But yeah I would prefer a pragmatic conservative over an originalist.

[Bob from Ohio]

All the Democrats on the court since Bryon White have been "full on progressive" so no doubt Biden will continue the trend.

On no significant issue has Breyer been anything but a reliable left vote, delusions of the libs on this chain notwithstanding.

[Sarcastr0]

Conservative is a very small space; it's easy to become impure.

Progressivism is vast, encompassing even many Republicans.

Thus do zealots curate a world where they are ever a victim.

[Krychek_2]

All the Democrats on the court since Byron White have been full on progressive? That's hilarious.

[Bob from Ohio]

People mistake his bland writing and milquetoast personality for being "pragmatic".

Abortion, gay issues, religious freedom, gun rights etc., not a dimes worth of difference between him and the unwise latina.

[Krychek_2]

Not sure which "him" you're referring to.

[Krychek_2]

I would also point out that on at least two of your issues -- abortion and gay rights -- the idea that the state shouldn't make people's choices for them is a thoroughly conservative position. The people wanting to ban abortion and gay marriage are the lunatic fringe. Your problem, Bob, is that the culture has left you behind but you haven't figured that out yet.

[apedad]

Oh he knows very well that he's on the losing side.

[Bob from Ohio]

I don't change my views because others do. Your mileage may vary.

[Krychek_2]

You shouldn't change your views because others do; you should change your views because they are wrong.

[Bob from Ohio]

"idea that the state shouldn’t make people’s choices for them is a thoroughly conservative position"

Pro-abortion is a conservative position now. Incredible.

Abandoning 10,000 years of marriage definition is a conservative position now. Incredible.

[Krychek_2]

Pro being left alone by the state is a conservative position, even if you don't like its application to a specific issue.

[Bob from Ohio]

Leaving babies alone to be killed is not conservative.

Gays sought to change state marriage laws so I do not see how that is "being left alone by the state". Churches were free to "marry" gays if they wanted.

[bernard11]

Gays sought to change state marriage laws so I do not see how that is “being left alone by the state”.

That certainly leaves you alone, assuming you are not gay.

Churches were free to “marry” gays if they wanted.

Nonsense. They could conduct whatever ceremony they liked, of course, but it had no legal force. From the legal point of view, the couples were not married.

[Krychek_2]

If they were babies you might have a point.

If instead of discriminating against gay couples, the state instead said that marriages between Jews wouldn't be recognized, would you still not see how that's an intrusion into the domestic life of the couples who can't get married?

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

I see two reliable lefties have moved so far to the left that they don't recognize anyone to the right of Lizzie and Bernie and AOC as Progressive.

[Krychek_2]

Then maybe you should see your eye doctor.

It's easy to cherry pick certain issues that you care about, as Bob did above, but if you look at their record overall they're far from reliable leftists. They routinely vote to uphold qualified immunity in lawsuits against the police. They vote to uphold death sentences. (Yeah, they also vote to overturn death sentences, but they're not reliable for either side on that issue.) They've voted pro-business. If I were an actual Marxist, I would have no trouble coming up with a long list of Breyer and Sotomayor votes that I would take issue with.

[Armchair Lawyer]

QI was a progressive decision, looking back.

[Sarcastr0]

Everything I don't like is a progressive decision, looking back.

[Armchair Lawyer]

Just take a look at the court decisions, and the ideological leanings of the judges who put it in place

[Sarcastr0]

Looking at the people to decide the ideology is not how you determine ideology, its how you determine tribe.

[Krychek_2]

Right. That’s why the people who support QI are mostly conservatives.

[Armchair Lawyer]

I mean, I would enjoy a series of lawsuits designed to bankrupt Gavin Newsom for his actions and violations of people's constitutional rights.

But that pesky qualified immunity is in place.

[Sarcastr0]

Suing public officials in their personal capacity for laws they passed is absolute immunity under the 11th Amendment.

[Armchair Lawyer]

Only in relation to their use of the veto authority. Not in relation to any "executive orders" or other items they put into place.

[Sarcastr0]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlow_v._Fitzgerald

[Sarcastr0]

Absolute immunity was claimed by the officials involved, including Nixon and several of his aides, which generated several additional cases that made their way to the Supreme Court. Nixon was named in the lawsuit but was found to have absolute immunity in his role as President.

Absolute immunity is a type of sovereign immunity for government officials that confers complete immunity from criminal prosecution and suits for damages, so long as officials are acting within the scope of their duties

[Sarcastr0]

Dude's calling Breyer a progressive. Mr. Sentencing Commission.

He's a liberal, but progressive he ain't. Unless you want to argue those two are synonyms.
In which case, I guess Roberts counts as a conservative. Which I suspect Bob would take issue with.

[LawTalkingGuy]

Breyer in general has been pretty weak on criminal justice with the exception of his death penalty skepticism.

[mydisplayname]

Trivia Time! Which Supreme Court Justice advocated breeding thalassophilics in the hope of staffing a perfect Navy?

Hint: "One of the most striking characteristics of sea–lust is that it is wholly a male character … so the appeal of the sea develops under the secretion of the germ gland in the boy. It is theoretically possible that some mothers are heterozygous for love of the sea, so that when married to a thalassophilic man half of their children will show sea-lust and half will not."
[Davenport CB. Scudder MT. Naval Officers, Their Heredity and Development. Washington: Carnegie Institution of Washington; 1919.]

[AmosArch]

Another gift from Republicans to Dems on the Supreme court. Albeit indirectly this time. They really should let Republicans just pick them all. They seem to almost do a better job (from the Dems pov) at times.

[Dan Schiavetta]

? At the time Democrats held the Senate 53 - 47.

[AmosArch]

I said indirectly. As in through Blackmun duh. Do I have to spell everything out for you?