One day after the Supreme Court heard arguments in the first abortion-related case since Roe v. Wade was overturned, retired Justice Stephen Breyer told CNN that the justices will be forced to consider abortion “more and more and more.”
In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Breyer chided the conservative majority for believing that the “harmful” Dobbs decision in 2022 would put an end to Supreme Court cases challenging abortion access.
“The majority thinks it’s going to turn the whole issue over to the legislatures of states, and we’ll never have to deal with it again,” Breyer said of the landmark decision.
“’Oh really,’ we said, ‘is that true?’” Breyer joked, citing the arguments in front of the justices Tuesday over attempts to limit access to mifepristone, the primary drug used for medication abortions.
“Yesterday morning, they dealt with a big issue, and there will be more and more and more,” Breyer said.
Two years after his retirement from the high court, Breyer released a new book “Reading the Constitution” that explains his approach to the law. The book compares Breyer’s approach to constitutional law to the current conservative majority’s invocation of “originalism.”
The abortion decision, the liberal former justice said, is a prime example of the shortcomings of his conservative counterparts’ legal theories.
In a year when the high court is facing numerous consequential and highly political cases debating gun rights, reproductive health access, and even whether a former president can be immune from criminal prosecution, Breyer said he was concerned over public trust in the court’s integrity.
“In the long run, public opinion matters,” Breyer said, “because public opinion is one of the things that will lead people to follow a rule of law.”
But Breyer urged Americans to trust in the institution, saying that “the rule of law itself is you and others, and me – we’ll have to sometimes follow cases that you think are wrong,” Breyer said. “If you don’t have that attitude in the country, you don’t have a rule of law.”
Breyer, appointed by former President Bill Clinton in 1994, reflected on his time as a justice, saying that the role “gives you a chance to do your best.”
“I was told by a president that the applause dies very rapidly,” Breyer said, “and then you’re left with the job.”
