A recent poll found that most people don’t want Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer to consider retiring because Democrats are in control of the nomination process to replace him on the bench.
In a Marquette Law School Supreme Court poll conducted last month, 60% of people surveyed said the justice should not step down based on the political party in control of the White House and the Senate.
Thirty-nine percent, though, said Justice Breyer should consider the political party controlling the nomination process.
The 82-year-old justice was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1994. He’s served on the high court for roughly 27 years.
Following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg last year, Justice Breyer became the most senior member of the liberal wing of the court.
Progressives have called for him to retire so President Biden can nominate a replacement, noting that the Senate’s Democratic majority could quickly process the nomination.
Mr. Biden has said he would nominate a Black woman to fill the next high court vacancy.
Overall, the poll found that 60% of the people surveyed said they approve of the job the Supreme Court is doing, while 39% disapprove.
The approval rate, though, declined 6 percentage points during the past year while the disapproval rate increased 6 points, according to Marquette’s findings.
The poll was conducted July 16-26 with 1,010 respondents. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.