Center for Reproductive Rights
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Team,
Earlier today, it was reported that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen
Breyer will be retiring from the Court later this term. Justice Breyer
has served nearly three decades on the Court, and has been one of its
great champions of reproductive rights and gender equality.
I wanted you to see my full statement below about Justice Breyer's
legacy and the news of his retirement.
- Nancy
Statement from Nancy Northup, President and CEO of the Center for
Reproductive Rights
Today, it was announced that Justice Stephen Breyer, the author of
some of the most important abortion cases in recent history, will
retire at the end of this term. During his nearly twenty-eight years
on the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Breyer has been one of the Court's
great champions of reproductive rights and gender equality,
demonstrating a deep awareness of the real-life implications of his
judicial decisions in cases ranging from abortion rights to access to
Family Medical Leave to educational opportunities for women.
Justice Breyer's retirement comes at a moment of crisis for
reproductive rights in America. The Supreme Court has allowed Texans
to be denied abortion access for almost five months now, against
blistering dissents that Justice Breyer joined. By June, the Court
will decide whether to overturn Roe v. Wade, which would likely lead
to half of the states banning abortion. The ruling in that
case-Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization-is
anticipated to come at the end of this term, and may be the last case
decided during Justice Breyer's tenure on the Court.
In abortion rights cases, Justice Breyer's opinions laid out the facts
and evidence to cut through the spurious justifications for
restrictive abortion laws. He authored the majority opinion in the
landmark decision Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt (2016), which
blocked two laws that would have closed three-quarters of the abortion
clinics in Texas. Four years later, Justice Breyer authored the
plurality opinion in June Medical Services v. Russo (2020), striking
down a Louisiana law nearly identical to the Texas law at issue in
Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, reiterating that these laws
impose severe burdens on abortion access for no legitimate medical
reason.
He also joined and authored dissents criticizing rulings and laws that
throw obstacles in the way of people seeking abortions, and
highlighted the harmful impacts these decisions would have on women in
those states. He joined Justice Ginsburg in dissenting in Gonzales v.
Carhart (2007) which condemned the majority's "effort to chip away at
a right declared again and again by this Court" and criticized the
majority opinion for "reflect[ing] ancient notions about women's place
in the family and under the Constitution-ideas that have long
since been discredited." In NIFLA v. Becerra (2018), he wrote a strong
dissent from the Court's opinion striking down a California law
requiring anti-abortion fake pregnancy centers to post a notice
informing women of their public health care options.
Justice Breyer has framed the Court's reproductive rights
jurisprudence as striking a careful balance in a country with diverse
views on abortion. In Stenberg v. Carhart (2000), his majority opinion
for the Court defended the landmark abortion decisions Roe v. Wade
(1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) as acts of
consensus-building by the Court. On March 4, 2020, during oral
argument in June Medical Services, he said that the Court's abortion
precedents from Casey to Whole Woman's Health were attempting to
answer the question of "what kind of rule of law do you have in a
country that contains both sorts of people" with differing moral views
on whether people have the right to control their own reproductive
autonomy.
In sex discrimination cases, Justice Breyer voted to advance the cause
of gender equality and empower mothers in the workplace. He joined the
majority in U.S. v. Virginia (1996) which rejected sex-based
classifications, especially those which "create or perpetuate legal,
social, and economic inferiority of women." He voted to uphold the
Family Medical Leave Act, authored a majority opinion defending the
rights of an employee who had suffered pregnancy discrimination in the
workplace, and repeatedly pushed back on the government's use of
stereotypes about women and motherhood in lawmaking.
Today, we are deeply grateful for Justice Breyer's tenure on the Court
and his dedication to equal rights under law.
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The Center for Reproductive Rights uses the power of law to advance reproductive rights as fundamental human rights around the world.
ￜ Center for Reproductive Rights
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New York, NY 10038
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