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Justice Breyer Retires
The progressive left claims a win as Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer announces his retirement.
When left-wing activists, from community organizers to journalists, started a pressure campaign recently to force Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer into retirement, Washington’s political intelligentsia didn’t like their chances.
Breyer was notoriously, often proudly and vocally, impervious to political pressure. Most thought any attempts to pressure him off the bench before his time would be met with recalcitrant refusal.
“Retire Breyer!” was the left’s rallying cry, for one Twitter-trending moment, but the consensus was patchy- at best. Supreme Court Justice Breyer was and is a well-respected moderate/liberal-leaning justice, a 27-year experienced veteran of the court, well liked and respected by his colleagues in both parties, and a reliably-progressive Supreme Court Justice for more years than many of his Twitter critics have been alive.
While the consensus was patchy, with not everyone in the Democratic Party willing to demand a replacement for Breyer, the fear which motivated this call to retire Breyer was very real. It was a fear shared by most progressives still smarting from the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett by then-President Donald Trump after the passing of Supreme Court Justice and liberal icon Ruth Bader…