Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP
- Justice Stephen Breyer still does not know when he'll step down from the Supreme Court.
- He told The New York Times in a new interview that he doesn't want his successor to undo his legacy.
- "I don't think I'm going to stay there till I die – hope not," he said.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer still does not know when he will retire, he told The New York Times' Adam Liptak in a new interview published on Friday.
"There are many things that go into a retirement decision," he said. One of the factors Breyer is weighing is who his successor will be. Citing the late Justice Antonin Scalia, Breyer said his replacement should not aim to undo his legacy on the court.
"He said, 'I don't want somebody appointed who will just reverse everything I've done for the last 25 years,'" Breyer told Liptak.
"There are a lot of blurred things there, and there are many considerations," he continued. "They form a whole. I'll make a decision."
Breyer agreed to The Times interview to discuss his new book, "The Authority of the Court and the Peril of Politics," which comes out next month. But one of the ground rules his publisher issued ahead of the conversation was that Breyer would not discuss his future plans, Liptak reported.
"I don't like making decisions about myself," Breyer said.
But one thing appears certain: "I don't think I'm going to stay there till I die - hope not," he said.
Breyer's comments follow a CNN interview last month in which he was similarly asked if had decided when to step down. "No," he answered at the time.
The longtime jurist, who's served on the high court for 27 years, is the oldest justice on the bench at 83 years old.
Progressive groups and lawmakers have urged Breyer to step down ahead of the 2022 midterms so that President Joe Biden can appoint his successor under a Democratic majority, securing a liberal justice on the bench for at least the next couple of decades.
This comes after former President Donald Trump appointed three justices to the Supreme Court during his one term, tilting its ideological balance, 6-3, to the right. Trump's newest addition, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, replaced Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a champion of women's rights who died in September 2020 due to complications with cancer at age 87.
Breyer has not been swayed by the public pressure as of yet. He's previously said that jurists should not behave like politicians.
He told The Times that he agreed with the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist's view that deciding "when to step down from the court is not a judicial act."