The Breyer family is very accomplished. Older brother Stephen Breyer was appointed to the First Circuit at the young age of 42, and was elevated to the Supreme Court when he was 56. Younger brother Charles Breyer was appointed to the U.S. District Court at the age of 56. He has served on that court for more than two decades.
Robert Barnes of the Washington Post asked Judge Charles Breyer about his brother's retirement.
But Breyer's decision to retire reflects another side of him, one often mentioned in descriptions of his time on the court: pragmatist.
"I think it's clear that politics played a role" in his decision to retire, Breyer's brother Charles, a federal district judge in San Francisco, said Thursday. "He's pragmatic and politics is a factor . . . that has to be considered."
It's not the only thing, Charles Breyer said. Only in the realm of the lifetime appointments the Supreme Court affords is an inquiry launched as to why an 83-year-old really wants to retire.
"Obviously his age is a factor," the 80-year-old Breyer said. "And he did not want to terminate his service on the court by death — that's not the exit he wanted."
