Past Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is aiming to return to the bench, this time as a visiting judge on a federal appeals court.
Breyer, Kim He retired from the Supreme Court in 2022, he said in a podcast this week that he is looking at a potential start date in the fall with the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.
“I’m a judge. If you get at-large, you stay a judge, and not only do you stay a judge by status, but I’m probably going to go and sit with the First Circuit next fall,” he said. Thursday’s edition of “Politics War Room” with journalist Al Hunt and Democratic strategist James Carville. “So I’m still an active judge.”
In an email Friday, an appeals court official confirmed Breyer’s plans.
“Justice Breyer has expressed interest in serving on the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and the Court is pleased to accept him,” he said. “Exact dates have not been determined yet.”
The court includes the districts of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Puerto Rico.
Breyer, 85, would not be the first former justice to hear cases since leaving the Supreme Court.
David Souterwho retired from the high court in 2009 served As visiting judge in the First Circuit, and the late Sandra Day O’ConnorA. who retired in 2006 guest judge with the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
A liberal justice, Breyer served on the high court for more than 27 years. He was nominated by President Bill Clinton in 1994.
After President Joe Biden retired, he nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to replace him. Breyer is the author of a recent book, Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism Over Textualism.
One in March interview On NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Breyer talked about one of the biggest decisions he made at the end of his tenure as a Supreme Court justice. He called the leak of the court’s draft decision in the Dobbs abortion case “unfortunate”. aaddition that he would be “surprised” if the source of the leak was one of the justices.
Breyer also said in the interview that Dobbs’ ouster is possible. He was one of the three dissenting judges In Dobbs, it was Roe v. It led to Wade’s cancellation.