Stephen G. Breyer (Supreme Court of the United States)
In 1994, Stephen Breyer was nominated by President Clinton to the Supreme Court and has worked tirelessly as an integral part of the highest court in the land ever since, earning a reputation for erudition, pragmatism, and the ability to work with both sides of the political divide.
He taught law for many years as a professor at Harvard Law School and at the Kennedy School of Government. He also worked as a law clerk for the Honorable Supreme Court Associate Justice Arthur Goldberg; as a Justice Department lawyer in the antitrust division, an Assistant Watergate Special Prosecutor; and as Chief Counsel of the Senate Judiciary Committee, working closely with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy to pass the Airline Deregulation Act. In 1980, he was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit by President Carter, becoming Chief Judge in 1990. He has written books and articles about administrative law, economic regulation, and constitutional law.
This evening, Nina Totenberg, NPR’s Legal Affairs correspondent, talks with Justice Breyer about his life before and after becoming a Supreme Court justice and his interpretation of the Constitution as a “living” document.
His book The Court and the World (Knopf) is available for signing.
