Dershowitz Slams Hard Left For Pressuring Justice Breyer to Quit

Associate Justice Stephen Breyer sits during a group photo at the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, April 23, 2021. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool) 

Harvard Law Prof. Alan Dershowitz harshly criticized the “radical left” for pressuring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to resign, saying the effort will backfire.

Speaking on “The Cats Roundtable” Sunday radio show on WABC 770AM hosted by John Catsimatidis, Dershowitz said those on the hard left want to ensure that President Joe Biden “gets to appoint your successor while there’s still a majority of Democrats in the United States Senate.

"They want to make the Supreme Court a political institution which is loaded with people of their political stripe rather than allow the natural phenomena to occur," he added. 

Dershowitz insisted that “justices should sit as long as they are healthy. Oliver Wendell Holmes sat until he was over 90. Some of our greatest decisions were written by octogenarians. I don’t like the fact that there are people who want to pressure Justice Breyer to leave the court and make it even more political than it now is.”

Dershowitz, who co-clerked with Breyer following law school, said, “He’s a great great man. There are those on the hard left, radical left, including some academics, who are trying to force him off the court. They’re saying to him, ‘Quit. Quit — even though you’re healthy and well and your appointment is for life.

"We live in an age where a lot of the media deliberately keeps their people uniformed or misinformed," he added. 

The Harvard law professor emphasized that the entire  effort “will backfire," pointing out that "even if Steve wanted to leave the Supreme Court this term, he’s not going to want to be perceived as having given into pressure. I know him. He’s not the kind of guy who’s going to say, ‘I’m going to leave office as a result of pressure from some academics who want me to leave in order to serve their own political interests.’”

Dershowitz stressed that “A - It’s going to backfire. B - It’s age discrimination. C - It politicizes the Supreme Court,” adding that  “It tells us what’s wrong with the hard left today. They see everything politically.… I hope Justice Breyer will resist it and will stay on the Supreme Court as long as his health permits him.”