Supreme sendoff: The nine justices end term with unanimity and uncertainty

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Fox News

The Supreme Court has wrapped up its tumultuous term with a surprising degree of consensus that masked underlying tensions over the extent to which its nine members should flex their political and judicial muscle.

From a beloved justice's death and a testy confirmation fight for her replacement, to fiery demands by the former president for the court to get involved in election outcome fights – all played out in a pandemic with virtual court hearings – the high court enters its summer recess with uncertainty over whether another bench vacancy is imminent.

Progressive lawmakers and activists have demanded 82-year-old Justice Stephen Breyer step down and give President Biden a chance to ensure his replacement is confirmed by a Democrat-controlled Senate. But such ramrod rhetoric is chancy.

 

"It would surprise me if Justice Breyer kow-tows to this public drumbeat for his resignation right now," said Thomas Dupree, a former senior Justice Department official under President George W. Bush. "And if anything, the people so vocally calling for him to step down, might run a risk that it backfires, that it actually solidifies his desire to serve on the court,  sending a message that I can't be pressured out of this job."

The court's oldest member may in fact be enjoying something of a renaissance with newfound power. With Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's passing from cancer in September, the pragmatic and collegial Breyer inherited the unofficial title of senior liberal justice. He wrote the court's 7-2 opinion in probably the most-watched case of the term, upholding the Affordable Care Act, for the third time.