Courts

Justice Stephen Breyer Will Return To Court, Starting Next Fall

Stephen Breyer wants to keep himself busy during retirement, and that means he'll be sitting as a judge once again.

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Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer during our interview in his office on August 27 in Washington, DC.

(Photo by Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Retired SCOTUS Justice Stephen Breyer is headed back to the bench — but this time, his service in chambers will be a little less Supreme.

As reported by Reuters, Breyer will be headed back to his old stomping grounds at the 1st Circuit as a visiting judge, where he’ll hear cases in Boston. Prior to ascending to the Supreme Court, Breyer served for 14 years on the 1st Circuit. He first announced his plans during Democratic strategist James Carville’s podcast, which was released late last week.

“I’m a judge. If you take senior status, you remain a judge,” Breyer told Carville. “And not only do you remain a judge in terms of status, but probably next fall I will go over and sit with the 1st Circuit. So I’m still an active judge.”

Here’s a little more detail, courtesy of Reuters:

Susan Goldberg, the appeals court’s circuit executive, on Friday confirmed Breyer will sit with the 1st Circuit in the fall, although the exact dates have not been determined.

By sitting with the 1st Circuit as a retired Supreme Court justice, Breyer would be following in the footsteps of his friend and former colleague David Souter, a New Hampshire native who after leaving the Supreme Court in 2009 has frequently sat as a visiting judge on the Boston-based appeals court.

In addition to his upcoming work with the 1st Circuit, Breyer will continue to teach classes at Harvard Law School, where he serves as the Byrne Professor of Administrative Law and Process.

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Congratulations to Justice Breyer on his post-retirement plans.

Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Breyer to hear cases on appeals court [Reuters]

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on X/Twitter and Threads or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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