Associate Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is reportedly miffed that his retirement was leaked, a violation of his practice of following protocol by the book, according to longtime court-watchers.
Sources said that he was beginning the standard process of scaling back, with plans to announce at the end of the current term in several months.
“He is a by-the-book stickler for following protocol. You announce your retirement at the end of terms, not in the middle,” one insider told Secrets today.
“He did not plan for this to leak out. He was just beginning the standard process of winding down,” added the source.
Fingers were pointed to the White House, which has been desperate to change news coverage from the president’s bad polls and policy failures, including several promises he failed to deliver to the left wing of his party.
Within hours of the leak, cable TV was showing an all-black slate of left-leaning female judges at the top of Biden’s list to replace Breyer, 83.
Outside groups have been pressuring Breyer to retire to the point of bullying. One group, Demand Justice, even drove a truck around the court recently with a sign that said, “Breyer, Retire. It’s time for a black woman Supreme Court justice. There’s no time to waste.”
In his new book, The Authority of the Court and the Peril of Politics, Breyer decried the type of politics that the leak of his retirement has already sparked.
Authored by Paul Bedard via Washington Examiner
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