Remembering the life and legacy of SCOTUS Justice Stephen Breyer By ABC News

but I’ve said that there are many different considerations and that I do not intend to die there on the court I hope not and I’m thinking about them considering and that’s as far as I’ll go

but considering those reasons to leave the court welcome back Davis in his life and he misses Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer you just heard they’re on Good Morning America the most senior member of the liberal wing of the cord has announced that he will be retiring at the end of this term is he told George Stephanopoulos there didn’t want to die on the course and he isn’t he’s going to leave and leave a great legacy so joining us to discuss the short-term and long-term impact this announcement John Basler professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law even though another liberal judge is leaving the Supreme Court that it illogical divide isn’t going to change because a liberal replaced Justice Breyer’s liberal vote but he was a particular kind of liberal pragmatic and involves more moderate how much do you think the court will change with President finds them and even though we don’t know who that’s going to be right now

well first I just want to say the Justice Breyer really serve the court and a country with great distinction and I think one of the the things are just as Brian was able to do is he so personal he was able to bring people together to I join opinions and again the court is a divided court but Justice Breyer really articulated dispositions really well on the court and one of the things that I’ve looked at a lot of horses that is the death penalty in is jurisprudence related to that subject but I think his legacy will be that is be protected women’s rights are protected voting rights he protected the the Reproductive Rights in in this country for women with the recent decisions that he’s on 3rd and he’s going to be remembered for his defense against the death penalty 15

when he joined us the idea that the death penalty cannot be operated in of in a constitutional way right

write in fact Justice Breyer had replaced Justice blackmun on the court and just as black the way back in 1994 had to send famously to sense it against the death penalty and said that he would no longer Tinker with the Machinery of death and in the in the glasses vs. gross $0.02 in 2015 adjusted prior really articulated a number of reasons why the death penalty should be declared a cruel punishment under the Constitution a set number one that convictions had become unreliable and we’ve seen a lot of a wrongful convictions and then people sent to death row who are actually innocent including a man in Maryland I think her blood worth it was a former Marine who was wrongfully convicted and spend time on death row I’ll be also said that the definitely become very arbitrary and if you look at the statistics and he broke it down into looking at you know what counties are actually using the death penalty and he’s he discovered that there’s really a very small number of counties that are accounting for the large majority of the executions in this country

I’m in the third lady looked at the the pro long time that before spending on death row and is going to be known for the sense in that area as well we’re a people on death row in our spending 20-30 sometimes even forty years before execution or exoneration as the case may be because again we’ve had a lot of cases where there’s been exonerations literally in the final hours before an execution has been scheduled people released from Death Row after actual evidence of Innocence has discovered but I want to turn now Professor best way to President Biden’s pledge to nominate a black woman to serve on the Supreme Court how much of a difference can that make in and how do you think this process will go

well I think they’ll be the president needs to decide on a on a nominee and that’s the president’s prerogative to pick whichever candidate he wants and I’m sure he will interview a number of candidates before he makes a decision and I think it’ll probably speedily go through the the Senate Judiciary Committee on which is the committee that looks at the nominations and again I’m very familiar with Senate Judiciary Committee hearings and the dissenters will get a chance to ask questions of the of the nominee and then they’ll be a vote for confirmation of the nominee and so again I thought process you know the bury someone in terms of how much time it takes but I’m sure that they’ll be in a sense of urgency to make sure that the court has a full contingent of 9 people on the Supreme Court

don’t know Professor what potential does this retirement have to change or reset the court Dynamics I mean it doesn’t change the balance in anyway but it sure will change the chemistry

yeah I think anytime you have one new person in a group of nine right that’s bound to change the Dynamics of of the Supreme Court Justice cuz it’s at there’s a lot of personalities in the court and there’s some strong personalities in the porch and so I think I’m having somebody like Justice Breyer who was able to bring people together on certain issues at least it was very important it’s important to have some of that understands the pragmatic consequence is the real-world consequences of the decisions and I think that that’s something that Justice Breyer it’s part of his legacy will be known for and of course he was also known for giving us a lot about the Constitution writing books about the Constitution and that idea of informing the public about what does document mean and what it stands for in the rule of law and Justice is really important and I know that you don’t freaking leave a debate Justice Scalia are they had very different the judicial slots a big deal but I suspected a present by and we’ll pick somebody obviously more in line with the with the Justice Breyer

Judicial philosophy than Justice Leah’s that’s for sure

all right Professor best that we just saw Stephen Breyer being sworn in as a Justice Supreme Court Justice Scalia they were adversaries legally but but close on the court and off the court and it is something that helps helps the court in the country a little bit we’ll see if that tradition can continue professor John best. Thanks very much for being with us. Thank you hi everyone George Stephanopoulos here thanks for checking on the ABC News YouTube channel you’d like to get more videos show highlights and watch live event coverage click on the right over here to subscribe to our Channel and don’t forget to download the ABC News app for breaking news alerts thanks for watching