Retired Justice Breyer calls Supreme Court in his clerking time a ‘court with a mission’

The Supreme Court has lost the “single-minded” focus it had during the civil rights era, according to retired Justice Stephen G. Breyer.

In a speech to law students at George Washington University on Tuesday, he recounted his years with the court, dating back to his time as a clerk to Justice Arthur Goldberg in the 1960s. That’s when the justices were figuring out how to force compliance with their 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling that called racial segregation unconstitutional.

Justice Breyer called that era a “court with a mission.”

In recent years, the court hasn’t been “as single-minded in its approach,” he said.

The Brown decision overturned the “separate but equal” doctrine that underpinned segregation, launching a lengthy and painful era as states tried — and some resisted — coming into compliance. The court found itself tested by the resisting communities.

Justice Breyer served on the Supreme Court for nearly three decades. He retired last year and was replaced by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman on the court and a former Breyer clerk.

In speaking with the law students this week, he declined to weigh in on racial issues of today, including a case the justices are deciding about the fate of affirmative action in education.

Justice Breyer was part of affirmative action decisions over the years, siding with justices who said the practice was constitutionally protected.

Legal analysts expect this current court to narrow or overturn those precedents.

Justice Breyer said he couldn’t speak about affirmative action since it’s part of the pending cases. He also said he doesn’t know how the court is leaning.

Justice Breyer’s appearance at GW is part of a five-session series where he details his legal education and experience during various speeches. Later in the fall he is scheduled to discuss his work on the Supreme Court in more detail.

• Stephen Dinan contributed to this story.