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16 ¦ APRIL 12, 2021 NEWS

Adding Justices Would Cause ‘Eroding’ of
Trust in High Court, Breyer Asserts

By Marcia Coyle

Justice Stephen Breyer testifying in 2015. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi / NLJ

Justice Stephen Breyer on Tuesday warned that three Democratic-appointed justices. He has come
public acceptance of U.S. Supreme Court deci- under increasing pressure from some liberal groups
sions, and more fundamentally, the rule of law, to retire now that Democrats control the White
was threatened by court reform proposals and grow- House and the U.S. Senate.
ing distrust of all government institutions.
“These are more than straws in the wind,” Breyer A few excerpts from Breyer’s remarks follow:
said in a two-hour address at Harvard Law School >> Breyer is against adding justices.
titled “The Authority of the Court and the Peril of “Discussion of institutional change should in-
Politics.” clude discussion of certain background matters,
Breyer did not talk about the Jan. 6 assault on the such as the trust that the court has gradually built,
U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald the long period of time needed to build that trust,
Trump, and he did not talk about Trump’s effort to the importance of that trust in a nation that values,
question the legitimacy of the U.S. presidential elec- indeed depends upon, a rule of law.
tion. “This lecture seeks to supply background, par-
Breyer’s speech pulled together and expanded ticularly for those who are not judges or lawyers,
a number of themes he has voiced in lectures and that will facilitate that discussion. Indeed, it seeks
books during his 27 years on the high court. At age to make those whose initial instincts may favor im-
82, Breyer is the court’s oldest justice and one of portant structural (or other similar institutional)

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