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Quick facts for kids Stephen Breyer
Official portrait, c. 2006

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
In office August 3, 1994 – June 30, 2022
Nominated by	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Harry Blackmun
Succeeded by	Ketanji Brown Jackson
Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
In office March 1990 – August 3, 1994
Preceded by	Levin H. Campbell
Succeeded by	Juan R. Torruella
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
In office December 10, 1980 – August 3, 1994
Nominated by	Jimmy Carter
Preceded by	Seat established
Succeeded by	Sandra Lynch

Personal details
Born	Stephen Gerald Breyer (1938-08-15) August 15, 1938 (age 86) San Francisco, California, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Joanna Hare (m. 1967)
Children	3
Relatives	Charles Breyer (brother)
Education	Stanford University (BA) Magdalen College, Oxford (BA) Harvard University (LLB)
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Army United States Army Reserve
Years of service	1957–1965
Rank	Corporal
Unit	Army Strategic Intelligence
Battles/wars	Vietnam War

Stephen Gerald Breyer, born on August 15, 1938, is an American lawyer and judge. He was a U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice from 1994 until he retired in 2022. President Bill Clinton chose him for the role. Justice Breyer was known for his generally liberal views on the Court. After retiring, he became a professor at Harvard Law School.

Breyer was born in San Francisco. He studied at Stanford University and the University of Oxford. He then graduated from Harvard Law School in 1964. Before joining the Supreme Court, he worked as a law professor at Harvard. He also held important government jobs, including helping with the Watergate investigation. In 1980, he became a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

On January 27, 2022, Justice Breyer announced he would retire from the Supreme Court. President Joe Biden then nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson to take his place. She was a judge and one of Breyer's former law clerks. Breyer officially retired on June 30, 2022. He wrote important opinions in cases like Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. and Google v. Oracle. He also wrote strong disagreements (called dissents) about the death penalty.

Early Life and Education
Journey to Becoming a Judge
Serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals
Serving on the Supreme Court
- Important Cases and Decisions
Retirement and Post-Retirement
How Justice Breyer Interpreted Laws
- Books by Justice Breyer
Awards and Recognition
See also

Early Life and Education

Stephen Breyer was born in San Francisco, California, on August 15, 1938. His parents were Anne and Irving Breyer. His father was a lawyer for the San Francisco Board of Education. Stephen and his younger brother, Charles R. Breyer, were active in the Boy Scouts of America. They both earned the rank of Eagle Scout.

Breyer went to Lowell High School. He was a strong debater there. After high school, he studied philosophy at Stanford University. He graduated with high honors in 1959. He then received a Marshall Scholarship to study at Magdalen College, Oxford in England. In 1961, he earned another degree. He returned to the U.S. and attended Harvard Law School. He graduated in 1964 with a law degree.

Breyer also served in the United States Army Reserve for eight years. He was a corporal and was honorably discharged in 1965.

In 1967, Breyer married Joanna Freda Hare. She is a psychologist. They have three children named Chloe, Nell, and Michael.

Journey to Becoming a Judge

After law school, Breyer worked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg from 1964 to 1965. He also worked briefly for the Warren Commission. Then, he spent two years helping the U.S. Department of Justice with antitrust cases.

In 1967, Breyer became a professor at Harvard Law School. He taught there until 1980. He was known as a top expert in administrative law. This area of law deals with how government agencies make and enforce rules. He wrote important books about how the government regulates things.

While teaching, Breyer also worked for the U.S. government. He was a special prosecutor for the Watergate scandal in 1973. He also worked for the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. He helped Senator Edward M. Kennedy pass a law that changed how airlines were regulated.

Serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals

In 1980, President Jimmy Carter nominated Breyer to be a judge. He was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. He served on this court from 1980 to 1994. From 1990 to 1994, he was the court's Chief Judge.

As chief judge, he helped design a new federal courthouse in Boston. He also worked on the United States Sentencing Commission. This group created rules to make criminal sentences more consistent across the country.

Serving on the Supreme Court

Breyer speaking in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 2011

In 1994, President Bill Clinton nominated Stephen Breyer to the Supreme Court. He was chosen to replace Justice Harry Blackmun. The Senate approved Breyer's nomination on July 29, 1994. He officially became a justice on August 3, 1994.

From 1994 to 2019, Justice Breyer wrote 520 opinions for the Court.

Important Cases and Decisions

Justice Breyer was involved in many important Supreme Court cases.

Census: In 2019, he was part of the majority that said the government did not follow proper rules when trying to add a citizenship question to the census. He believed the question was not well thought out.
Copyright: In 2003, Breyer disagreed with a ruling that extended copyright terms. He argued that extending copyrights for too long could hurt creativity and public access to works. In 2014, he wrote the main opinion in a case against a company called Aereo. The Court ruled that Aereo's service, which let people watch TV online, was too much like a cable company and violated copyright laws. In 2021, he wrote the main opinion in Google v. Oracle. The Court decided that Google's use of some Java code was fair use. This meant Google did not violate Oracle's copyright.
Death Penalty: In 2015, Breyer strongly disagreed with a decision about the death penalty. He questioned whether the death penalty itself was constitutional. He believed the Court should look closely at this issue.
Environment: In 2000, Breyer was part of a decision that allowed people to sue polluters. This was if the pollution stopped them from using a river for fun. In 2020, he wrote the main opinion in a case about water pollution. The Court ruled that Maui County needed a permit to release polluted groundwater into the ocean. This was seen as a win for environmental groups.
Health Care: Breyer generally supported the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In 2021, he wrote the main opinion in a case where states tried to challenge the ACA. The Court ruled that the states did not have the right to sue.
Voting Rights: Breyer wrote the main opinion in a case about racial gerrymandering. The Court ruled that claims of unfair voting district maps must be looked at district by district. He also disagreed with decisions that made it harder to challenge political gerrymandering. He believed courts should be able to fix unfair voting maps.

Retirement and Post-Retirement

Breyer announcing his pending retirement alongside President Joe Biden on January 27, 2022

Breyer in 2024

After the 2020 elections, some people asked Justice Breyer to retire. This would allow President Biden to choose a younger liberal justice. Breyer said he did not want to "die on the court." He also said he considered many things when deciding to retire.

On January 26, 2022, news came out that Breyer planned to retire. He confirmed this with President Biden on January 27. On February 25, Biden nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson to replace him. The Senate approved Jackson on April 7, 2022. Justice Breyer officially retired on June 30, 2022.

After retiring, Breyer became a professor at Harvard Law School. He had attended and taught there before. As a retired justice, he can still serve as a judge in lower federal courts. He returned to the First Circuit Court of Appeals in 2025.

How Justice Breyer Interpreted Laws

Justice Breyer is known for his "pragmatic" way of looking at the law. This means he tries to make the law make sense and work well in the real world. He believes judges should consider the purpose of a law and what happens because of their decisions. He also thought it was okay for courts to look at laws from other countries.

Breyer believed that judges should use six tools to understand laws:

The actual words of the law (text).
The history behind the law.
Past court decisions (precedent).
Long-standing customs (tradition).
The goal or reason for the law (purpose).
What might happen if the court rules a certain way (consequences).

He argued that the purpose and consequences are very important. He believed they help make sure decisions fit what the law was meant to do.

Books by Justice Breyer

Justice Breyer wrote several books about his ideas on law.

In 2005, he published Active Liberty: Interpreting Our Democratic Constitution. In this book, he said judges should interpret laws to help people participate more in government.
In 2010, he wrote Making Our Democracy Work: A Judge's View. He explained how judges can use different tools to understand laws. He also gave examples of times when the Supreme Court's decisions had big impacts.
In 2015, his book The Court and the World: American Law and the New Global Realities came out. It looked at how U.S. law and international law connect. It also discussed how a globalized world affects U.S. cases.
His fourth book, Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism, was released in 2024. In it, he explained why he prefers his pragmatic approach over a strict reading of the law.

Awards and Recognition

Stephen Breyer has received many honors. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2004. In 2007, the Boy Scouts of America gave him the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. In 2018, he became the head of the jury for the Pritzker Architecture Prize. This is a very important award for architecture.