At retirement announcement, Breyer says he's optimistic the American experiment will work
At an event at the White House on Thursday to announce his retirement from the Supreme Court, Justice Stephen Breyer said it’s up to young people to ensure the American experiment works. Calling himself an optimist, Breyer said he thinks it will.
Video Transcript
- See, those are the words I want to see, an experiment. And that's what he thought. It's an experiment.
And I found some letters that George Washington wrote where he said the same thing. It's an experiment. That experiment existed then because even the liberals in Europe, they're looking over here and they're saying it's a great idea in principle. But it'll never work.
But we'll show them it does. That's what Washington thought. And that's what Lincoln thought. And that's what people still think today.
And I say oh, I want you. And I'm talking to the students now. I say I want you to pick just this up.
It's an experiment that's still going on. And I'll tell you something. You know who will see whether that experiment works, it's you, my friend. It's you Mr. High school student. It's you Mr. college student.
It's you Mr. law school students. It's us, but it's you. It's that next generation and the one after that, my grandchildren and their children. They'll determine whether the experiment still works.
And of course, I am an optimist. And I'm pretty sure it will. Does it surprise you that that's the thought that comes into my mind today? I don't know. But thank you.
