Associate Justice Stephen Breyer

Supreme Court Justice Quality Way Down From Decades In The Past!

Republican Party Presidents since 1953 have selected the vast majority of Supreme Court Justices!

Dwight D. Eisenhower 5
Richard Nixon 4
Gerald Ford 1
Ronald Reagan 4
George H. W. Bush 2
George W. Bush 2
Donald Trump 3
Total 21 with William Rehnquist listed twice under Nixon and Reagan

in 40 years of Republican Presidents

Democratic Party Presidents have had far fewer appointments!

John F. Kennedy 2
Lyndon B. Johnson 2
Jimmy Carter 0
Bill Clinton 2
Barack Obama 2
Joe Biden 1
Total 9

in 32 years of Democratic Presidents

So twice as many Repubican appointments as Democrats!

Eisenhower had Chief Justice Earl Warren, Associate Justice Potter Stewart, and Associate Justice William Brennan stand out!

Nixon had Chief Justice Warren Burger and Associate Justice Harry Blackmun stand out!

Ford had Associate Justice John Paul Stevens stand out!

Reagan had Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy stand out!

H W Bush had Associate Justice David Souter stand out!

On the Democratic side:

Kennedy had Associate Justice Byron White stand out!

Johnson had Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall stand out!

Clinton had Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Associate Justice Stephen Breyer stand out!

Obama had Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Associate Justice Elena Kagan stand out!

Biden had Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson stand out!

So 9 Republican appointments and 7 Democratic appointments have stood out!

Now, sadly, we have a group of appointments by Republican Presidents (the two Bushes and Donald Trump) that have been extremist and involved in conflicts of interest, and are not interested in being in the moderate center of constitutional law!

These include Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, and sadly, Chief Justice John Roberts!

Retirement Of Stephen Breyer And Swearing In Of Ketanji Brown Jackson To Supreme Court

Yesterday marked the end of 28 years of devoted service of Associate Justice Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court, and the swearing in of new Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to replace him.

We now have the third African American in Supreme Court history, and the first woman, following Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas.

Jackson will be, as Breyer had become, a member of the minority liberals on the Court, and it will likely be very frustrating to work with the most extreme right wing Court in a century, and with no likelihood of a move toward the political center.

Let us all wish Breyer a long retirement, and Jackson a successful few decades on the Supreme Court!