A few months ago, AOC and her (expanded) Squad were all over TV and social media appealing to Justice Stephen Breyer to retire – to save American Democracy and to seal his judicial legacy. But it appears either uncertainty or frustration has gotten the better of them. Because, as Spectrum News NY 1 reported on June 28, they are no longer appealing but are now demanding he retire:
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Progressives are calling for the 82-year-old Breyer, who was nominated to the bench by President Bill Clinton in 1994, to immediately step down, allowing President Joe Biden the opportunity to nominate a justice along similar ideological lines while Democrats control the White House and both chambers of Congress.
‘There is no question that Justice Breyer, for whom I have great respect, should retire at the end of this term,’ fellow New York Rep. Mondaire Jones, the first lawmaker to call for his retirement, told Cheddar in April. ‘My goodness, have we not learned our lesson?’
When asked earlier this month if she thinks Breyer should retire at the end of his term, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said “I’m inclined to say yes.”
‘I believe Rep. Jones has a point,’ the New York progressive told CNN. ‘We have had very difficult experiences with making, I believe, the opposite mistake.’
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Full disclosure, I am probably more progressive/liberal than Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. AOC. More to the point, I am probably more pragmatic than President Joe Biden and Rep. James Clyburn.
That said, I sympathize with the anxieties that are causing progressives to pressure Breyer to retire. But their pressure amounts to political impudence and bullying in equal measure. Hell, you’d think these upstarts know more, or care more, about the fate of American democracy than he does.
Frankly, they seem too consumed with their own self-righteousness to appreciate how Breyer might be reflecting on the way they hailed RBG as a living icon, but then pissed all over her grave just because she failed to retire according to their political calculations.
But why would, indeed how could, any eminent justice give even the appearance of basing this seismic decision (in so many respects) on pressure from a left-wing mob…? RBG did not. Breyer will not. And no justice should.
It is self-evident that the prudent thing to do is to leave Breyer to his own wise counsel – to do the right thing … in a timely manner. Yes, fate could hand Republicans control of the Senate tomorrow. But it could just as easily reinforce the Democrats’ control. So …
No doubt reports that Breyer has already hired clerks for the 2021-22 term are fueling these injudicious calls for his retirement. But, for what it’s worth, he could serve another term and retire this time next year, and Biden would still have enough time to nominate his replacement ahead of the 2022 midterms.
That said, Breyer retiring should not even be an issue. The problem is that, AOC and others so self-obsessed, they do not realize that the best way to serve their cause is to emulate Stacey Abrams’s voter-registration efforts.
Because all they’re doing now is issuing idle threats at fellow Democrats; that is, when they’re not threatening to derail Biden’s progressive agenda. But they should be focusing their efforts on getting more Democrats elected to the House and Senate. By doing so, they could render the timing of Breyer’s retirement relatively, er, moot.
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Podcast RBG is dead… notorious RBG… Garland precedent… Gorsuch and Kavanaugh… Hail Mitt… John McCain… John Lewis…