Published on: Wednesday, January 26, 2022

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is retiring at the end of the current term after serving more than two decades on the nation's highest court, according to people familiar with his thinking (article available here).

At 83, Breyer is the court's oldest member. Breyer's retirement gives President Biden his first opportunity to name a new justice to the court. During the 2020 campaign, he pledged to name an African American woman if he got the chance. The two leading contenders are said to be federal Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, a former Breyer law clerk, and California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger, who served as assistant, and then deputy solicitor general in both Democratic and Republican administrations prior to her nomination to California's highest court.

Both women are young, in terms of Supreme Court appointment. Brown Jackson is 51 and Kruger is 45. And both have stellar legal credentials.

The court's term ends this summer, and it is expected Breyer will retire then.