The Many Stephen Breyers
The Many Stephen Breyers
Deanne Maynard authored an article for SCOTUSblog as part of a series of tributes on the career of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. Deanne clerked for Justice Breyer during the 1994-95 term.
“When the justice wants to talk about a case, he comes out of his office and launches into it with the first person he encounters,” Deanne said. “He’s genuinely interested in what others have to say, and he relishes bouncing ideas off anyone handy. This could be one of his law clerks – although not necessarily the one assigned to that particular case. It often led to our scrambling to locate whichever of our co-clerks was on the case, so they could answer the justice’s many questions. His practice also caught other justices’ law clerks by surprise – the norm was for clerks visiting from other chambers to politely depart if a justice appeared. Not so with Justice Breyer. If another justice’s law clerk was hanging out in our offices, and Justice Breyer came in to talk, he would want the clerk to stay and participate, so he could hear what they thought about whatever he was thinking about.”
Read the full article.
Practices