Supreme Court’s Justice Breyer needs to make retirement decision, says Sen. Amy Klobuchar

If Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is going to retire, he should do it “sooner rather than later,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar said on Sunday.

Urging the 83-year-old liberal-leaning justice to make up his mind, the Minnesota Democrat said she was worried about how Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell would handle the next high court vacancy.

“You have to be concerned about how you get a justice on the court with all of the manipulation that Mitch McConnell has engaged in. So that would lead me to say sooner rather than later,” Klobuchar told CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Breyer said last week that he hasn’t decided when to retire. Health and the overall situation on the bench will determine his decision, he told CNN.

Democrats have been calling on him to make a decision, with Rep. Mondaire Jones, a New York Democrat, saying Breyer should step down while President Biden is still in office.

“When you look at the court, he has to be concerned about the makeup,” Klobuchar said. “If he’s going to retire, it should be sooner rather than later if you are concerned about the court.”

Supreme Court justices are appointed by the president and subject to Senate confirmation.

The confirmations of the two newest members of the court, Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh, were bitterly partisan and divisive.

The Supreme Court currently consists of six conservative justices and three liberals.

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