Responding to reports that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is retiring, several Vermont politicians are celebrating the justice’s near-30 years on the bench — and calling for change as he departs.
U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, who oversaw dozens of judicial nominations as the longtime chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, in a Wednesday statement said it is the Senate’s constitutional duty to “expeditiously” confirm Breyer’s successor. With mere months until the midterms, Democrats don’t have time to waste.
“Senate Democrats must not allow the kind of obstruction of a President’s nominee that we saw with Merrick Garland,” he said. “The American people deserve a complete Supreme Court to consider the pressing issues facing our nation today. The Senate must not delay in meeting our obligation to ensure that our nation’s highest court is operating at full strength.”
President Joe Biden promised during his campaign that, should a vacancy arise on the bench while he is president, he would nominate a Black woman for the role. None have yet served on the nation’s highest court.
State Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, D-Chittenden, who is running for Vermont’s lone seat in the U.S. House, did not forget his pledge, tweeting Wednesday afternoon, “It’s past time for a Black woman to have a seat on the Supreme Court.”
Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint, D-Windham, who is also running for Vermont’s U.S. House seat, tweeted that it’s “time for (Biden) to deliver” on his promise. She also implored Congress to expand the number of justices on the Supreme Court.
“Even after Biden appoints a new SCOTUS justice, the court will be 6-3 conservative,” she tweeted. “This in a country where the GOP has won the popular vote only once since 1988, where a GOP Congress blocks nominees from duly elected Democrats. To restore democracy, Biden must #ExpandTheCourt.”
Lt. Gov. Molly Gray, also vying for the Democratic nomination for the same U.S. House seat, celebrated Breyer’s career and called on Biden and the Senate to confirm a similarly liberal-minded justice to the bench.
“Looking to a future where fundamental rights are under attack — from voting rights to reproductive rights — we must advance justices who will uphold the Constitution and protect human rights, and who understand, as Justice Breyer does, the world is watching and America must lead,” she tweeted.
Also in his statement, Leahy celebrated Breyer’s tenure and legal opinions, calling him “one of the Supreme Court’s finest unifiers.” In some of his most famous opinions, Leahy said Breyer “brought along justices from both ends of the ideological spectrum” and “did not compromise his core beliefs about the Constitution and the law.”
“He believes deeply that the Supreme Court should not become mired in politics and has served as a beacon of judicial independence even amid increasingly partisan times,” Leahy said.
The Senate is politically divided 50-50, but luckily for Biden and Senate Democrats, former President Donald Trump’s three Supreme Court nominees were confirmed by Republican simple majorities — not a 60-vote threshold. U.S Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., who is running for one of Vermont’s Senate seats, did not comment on Breyer’s retirement as of Wednesday afternoon.
