Goodbye, Mr. Breyer

I'm going to miss Justice Stephen Breyer.

He's always been a kindly and thoughtful justice, treating the Constitution as a living and breathing document relevant to the times.  He's been a fierce defender of the Bill of Rights - freedom of speech and religion and all that - but he's also interpreted the Bill of Rights with great care and diligence, from pointing out the the Second Amendment gives the right of the people to bear arms to a well-regulated militia but not individuals and that capital punishment violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. 

I'm especially going to miss him because he's the last white male liberal on the Supreme Court, and so I won't see myself reflected on the Supreme Court.  Yes, I still feel shame that my hometown produced Samuel Alito, who was instrumental in torpedoing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's COVID vaccination rules. But Justice Breyer's time has come, thanks largely to the precarious majority the Democrats hold in the Senate, which confirms judicial nominees, and that majority could very well be gone next year.   

The process to confirm Justice Breyer's replacement will be a long, hard slog, and I certainly hope President Biden lives up to his promise to push for diversity with his first (and possibly only) Supreme Court appointment.  

I hope he appoints a Protestant. 😉