Breyer hires several new clerks, pointing to continued presence on Supreme Court

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer this week hired several new clerks to assist him during his court duties, indicating the long-serving jurist—the oldest member of the Court—may not be retiring in the near future as some liberals have urged.

Breyer, 82, has served on the Court for 26 years, second only to Justice Clarence Thomas in years on that bench. Breyer is nearly a decade Thomas’s senior. 

Speculation swirled as to whether Breyer, long viewed as one of the Court’s more liberal justices, would retire during the presidency of Joe Biden in order to assure that a Democratic president could replace him. He was nominated by Bill Clinton in 1994. 

Breyer’s retirement and subsequent replacement by Biden would likely not change the ideological makeup of the court, which is widely regarded as leaning conservative thanks to former President Donald Trump’s three appointments.