The left-wing desperation to get liberal Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to retire so President Biden can nominate a replacement has gotten so bad that even NPR’s Nina Totenberg denounced the “stupid approach” while appearing on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Friday. She explained how such political pressure would likely backfire and ensure that Breyer remained on the high court.
Following discussion of the Supreme Court upholding a Republican-backed Arizona voting law, Associated Press White House reporter Jonathan Lemire brought up the campaign for Breyer to step down: “...it’s the end of the Supreme Court term, which means the beginning intensification of the speculation about the future of the Supreme Court. And in particular, Justice Breyer, who many people believe may be eyeing retirement in the semi-near future.”
“We know he’s come under increasing pressure from some liberals who want him to step aside before the midterm elections, before the Democrats potentially could lose control of the Senate for confirmation,” Lemire remarked before asking Totenberg “who President Biden may be looking at for a successor, if he’s given a chance to appoint one.”
Totenberg confessed: “I think it’s really always very difficult to read the mind of a Supreme Court justice at a time like this in his or her life. I have no idea....I just think it’s an unknowable thing about this point.”
Minutes later, she lectured leftists trying to force the Justice out:
I mean, there’s all this push to get him to retire, this very public push. There was a – some – one of the liberal organizations organized a truck to go around the Supreme Court calling for his retirement. Well, A, he wasn’t there. But, B, some of this is itself sort of stupid, because he’s hired clerks. I don’t know what the answer is, but do you really want to make somebody – how would you feel about that? Because, I mean, if somebody had a truck that went around NPR that said, “Nina Totenberg should retire,” I probably would dig my heels in. It’s sort of a stupid approach.
When left-wing activists have even lost a reliable Democratic partisan like Totenberg, you know their strategy is a mess.
This segment was brought to viewers by Applebee’s and Allstate.
Here is a transcript of the July 2 exchange:
7:46 AM ET
(...)
JONATHAN LEMIRE [ASSOCIATED PRESS]: Hey, Nina, it’s Jonathan Lemire, I’m tempting the news gods here, I recognize, but it’s the end of the Supreme Court term, which means the beginning intensification of the speculation about the future of the Supreme Court. And in particular, Justice Breyer, who many people believe may be eyeing retirement in the semi-near future.
According to our reporting, the White House certainly doesn’t have any heads up that one thing is coming one way or the other. This is being held very tightly, a close hold, tightly to the Justice’s vest as to what his future plans are. What is your sense of it? What is your sense of what he may decide, whether it’s this year or next year? We know he’s come under increasing pressure from some liberals who want him to step aside before the midterm elections, before the Democrats potentially could lose control of the Senate for confirmation. But it’s not just about Justice Breyers’s health, it’s also about the health of those aged Democratic senators who perhaps if one of them were to pass on and a Republican governor appointed a replacement, that would change the dynamic of the Senate altogether.
Give us just your sense as to where this goes, what we could be looking at, and who President Biden may be looking at for a successor, if he’s given a chance to appoint one.
NINA TOTENBERG [NPR]: You know, I think it’s really always very difficult to read the mind of a Supreme Court justice at a time like this in his or her life. I have no idea, is the truthful answer. Justice Breyer is about to turn 83. He’s one of the most fit 83 years you can see. He – this term [he] had a very good term, he wrote some very important opinions and managed to get good majorities for them. And that’s one of the things he’s good at, and he knows he’s good at that.
On the other hand, he’s not a political idiot. He worked in the Senate, he worked for Ted Kennedy. He was chief counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee – or maybe he wasn’t chief counsel, I mean he had some staff director, I don’t actually know what his title was. But he’s worked there. Now, it was a different Senate in those days, but he’s not stupid. So he certainly sees what the odds are, possibility, if there is a – one senator were to die, for example, or change parties. And so, this is not something that he doesn’t know. He didn’t do it yesterday. I guess we’ll all be waiting today to see what – if he does. And I just think it’s an unknowable thing about this point.
I’ve seen a couple of times in the last months at various events and he looked well. I didn’t ask him this question because he probably would have just walked away. I mean, there’s all this push to get him to retire, this very public push. There was a – some – one of the liberal organizations organized a truck to go around the Supreme Court calling for his retirement. Well, A, he wasn’t there. But, B, some of this is itself sort of stupid, because he’s hired clerks. I don’t know what the answer is, but do you really want to make somebody – how would you feel about that? Because, I mean, if somebody had a truck that went around NPR that said, “Nina Totenberg should retire,” I probably would dig my heels in. It’s sort of a stupid approach.
(...)
