WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Breyer has informed President Joe Biden of his intent to retire from his role beginning at noon on Thursday.
In a letter shared by the Supreme Court, Breyer wrote that his time as a justice will end after the nation’s highest court hands down its final opinion from this term. Earlier, the court announced it will announce its opinions beginning at 10 a.m. Thursday.
“It has been my great honor to participate as a judge in the effort to maintain our Constitution and the Rule of Law,” Breyer wrote.
>> Read the full letter from Justice Stephen Breyer
The 83-year-old announced in January his plan to retire from the Supreme Court after nearly three decades. Then-President Bill Clinton appointed Breyer to the court in 1994.
Before serving on the Supreme Court, Breyer served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit after being appointed to the court in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter. He served as chief justice of the court from 1990 to 1994.
In April, the Senate voted 53-47 to confirm U.S. Appeals Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve as Breyer’s replacement. She had previously been on former President Barack Obama’s shortlist for the Supreme Court.
Jackson will be the third Black justice and the sixth woman to serve on the court in its history. She will be the first Black woman to fill a seat on the Supreme Court.
In a statement, officials with the Supreme Court said Jackson will be sworn in as the 104th associate justice of the court at noon Thursday.
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