So Long to Stephen Breyer, a Justice of the Old School

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Amid one of the most consequential Supreme Court terms in decades, word leaked Wednesday that Justice Stephen Breyer will soon be retiring. No doubt, he’ll be missed.

Over nearly 28 years on high court, Breyer has earned a reputation as an amiable colleague, a thoughtful justice and a thoroughgoing pragmatist. He has been protective of the court’s integrity and modest about its role in public life. A jurist of the old school, he’s been serious and sober, charitable and optimistic, an institutionalist to the end. In an age of crusading ideology and relentless partisanship, he’s championed reason and restraint, principle and prudence.

Filling his shoes would be a challenge for anyone. In appointing his first justice to the Supreme Court, President Joe Biden could do worse than to seek a nominee as conscientious and levelheaded as the one headed out the door.

Biden has pledged to select a Black woman for the role, which would be a historic first. There’s no shortage of worthy candidates. Current frontrunners include Ketanji Brown Jackson, 51, a judge of long distinction who now sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit; Leondra Kruger, a 45-year-old justice on the California Supreme Court; and J. Michelle Childs, 55, a South Carolina district-court judge with experience in both government and private practice. Biden will need to consult widely — and beyond activist circles — in making his choice.

Whoever the candidate is, the administration should be ready to move fast once Breyer is out. As a former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Biden surely understands how much work confirming nominees requires — typically two or three months’ worth — and how easily such efforts can go awry. He should also bear in mind the precariousness of the Democrats’ Senate majority and prioritize moderation. Progressives would be wise to rethink their strategy of shaming and scapegoating their centrist colleagues for the stall-out of their legislative agenda. Every vote will count.

Some Democrats are already lamenting that the new justice will have little to do. Outnumbered 6-3 by the court’s conservatives, liberals may not wield significant power for many years. As Breyer has showed, though, persuasion and pragmatism can still go a long way in shaping the court’s direction, even from the minority. His long service is testament to the persistent power of decency — a lesson as valuable today as when he was first nominated.

Editorials are written by the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board.

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