There are overly opinionate and over-the-top Progressive politicians, and then there is Florida Rep. Omari Hardy, the unapologetic “troublemaker extraordinaire” who appears beside himself over Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer’s ego-driven decision not to retire.
Progressives and many Democratic Socialists have been urging Justice Breyer, who is considered to be a liberal justice, to retire so that President Joe Biden could nominate a justice that is cut from the same ideological cloth as the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Justice Elena Kagan, or Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
“A small part of me is charmed by the very-Breyer sentence: "I think I'm aware of most of them, and I am, and will consider them." But the rest of me is horrified that Justice Breyer, like Justice Ginsburg, is choosing to risk the preservation of democracy in America for his ego,” tweeted Rep. Hardy, who is currently running for the U.S. Congress in the special election in Florida’s 20th district.
Being a Supreme Court Justice is a lifetime job, but Hardy and like-minded Progressives appear to be letting their egos bully a respected Justice into retirement.
Justice Breyer spoke to NPR about his intentions to stay put and not appease the pressure from Progressive activists like Hardy.
"When exactly I should retire, or will retire, has many complex parts to it. I think I'm aware of most of them, and I am, and will consider them,” stated Justice Breyer.
The call for Breyer to step down first came when he opposed the Progressive demand to pack the Supreme Court shortly after President Biden took office and after Justice Amy Coney Barnett was nominated and confirmed in the U.S. Senate
A small part of me is charmed by the very-Breyer sentence: "I think I'm aware of most of them, and I am, and will consider them."
But the rest of me is horrified that Justice Breyer, like Justice Ginsburg, is choosing to risk the preservation of democracy in America for his ego. https://t.co/YNh6n9Cwug
— Rep. Omari Hardy (@OmariJHardy) September 10, 2021
It is now obvious that Breyer is not the progressive they hoped he would be after the senior justice came out against packing the Supreme Court.
“Proposals have been recently made to increase the number of Supreme Court justices. I’m sure that others will discuss related political arguments,” he said. “This lecture reflects my own effort to be certain that those who are going to debate these questions … also consider an important institutional point. Consider it. Namely, how would court-packing reflect and affect the rule of law itself?”
Breyer added, “to make those whose initial instincts may favor important structural change, or other similar institutional changes, such as forms of court-packing, think long and hard before they embody those changes in law.”
