Massive Supreme Court Shake Up

In breaking news, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer has announced his retirement after 27 years on the bench. This means that President Biden will get to replace the Justice on the Supreme Court with another Left-leaning Justice. This announcement will make for a battle right before the midterm elections.

ACLJ Director of Government Affairs Thann Bennett explained how this move comes at a time with a 50-50 Senate and no filibuster to get confirmed:

"If you make a change to the filibuster, it is going to apply to both parties and when the Democrats pulled down the judicial filibuster for lower court nominations, it was always going to apply to the Supreme Court. Of course, it does now. . . . We are at a 50-vote threshold in the United States Senate, plus the tie-breaking vote of the President of the Senate, which of course is Vice President Harris. . . . My phone is filled with potential replacements and . . . even though I think it’s a little bit of a long shot, the one I’m seeing the most often is actually Vice President Harris."

When Joe Biden was campaigning, he gave us a sense of who his nominee could be:

"We talked about the Supreme Court – I’m looking forward to making sure there’s a black woman on the Supreme Court to make sure we, in fact, get everyone represented. I’d push very hard to do that."

Thann added what the process to appoint a Supreme Court nominee would entail:

"The process is, once there is a nominee, it will be assigned to the United States Senate and be sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee. . . . Then we will go through a series of hearings there and ultimately the Senate Judiciary Committee would take a vote. . . . Just to be clear, the nominee does not have to have a majority on the Judiciary Committee to move to the floor, but just for informational purposes, there are 11 Democrats and 11 Republicans on that Committee. So, it is entirely possible that a nominee would move out of the committee with a tied vote 11-11, then move to a tied Senate to take a vote. One thing I just wanted to put out there . . . President Biden, when he was campaigning, he did pledge that he would put a woman of color on the Court if a nomination were to open up. If he stays true to that, it does narrow the scope quite a lot. I think when he made that pledge, there were only 5 women of color on the Circuit of Appeals, not that he has to draw from that list. . . . Another name I am hearing just to say it is Ketanji Jackson, who is a judge on the D.C. Circuit Court . . . so that would be someone who gets a lot of attention."

ACLJ Director of Policy Harry Hutchison gave his prediction:

"I think the Left will attempt to put a progressive, globalist, elite individual on the United States Supreme Court. . . . They will seek to place on the Court someone who gets approval from either AOC or Senator Warren. I really think what we will get is a pure complete ideologue on the Supreme Court who will replace Justice Breyer, and I think it will make for more fireworks on the Court and probably a greater outburst that will be carried by the press. So, I think they will be unrestrained or at least that is what they hope. So, if you look at anyone who is above the age of 35 and 55, they are now in play, particularly if they are ideologues."

ACLJ Senior Counsel Andy Ekonomou explained the timing of this announcement:

"This is probably very calculated on the part of everybody who is involved. Seeing the possibility that the Senate might flip in the midterms, the President’s popularity is sinking, he has wars and rumors of war in Europe, a lot of things are happening. So, Justice Breyer after 27 years wants to perpetuate keeping a liberal on the Court. He says this is the time to do it. We better do it while we have control of the Senate. . . . This is the time to do it. The battle is going to be in the summer if not sooner."

We will continue to research the list that comes out over potential nominees and update you with more information as it comes.

Today’s full Sekulow broadcast is complete with even more analysis of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer retirement announcement.