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Supreme Court · Associate Justice

Stephen Breyer

Democratic appointee: Appointed by William J. Clinton (D)

Served 1994–2022 · 28 terms

Confirmed 87–9

Biography

Stephen Gerald Breyer is an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1994 until his retirement in 2022. He was nominated by President Bill Clinton, and replaced retiring justice Harry Blackmun. Breyer was generally associated with the liberal wing of the Court.

Source: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Ideology over time

Breyer and the 15 justices who overlapped with Breyer, 1994–2021

−4−20+2+4199520002005201020152020More conservativeMore liberalThomasAlitoScaliaRehnquistBarrettGorsuchKavanaughJ. RobertsKennedyO'ConnorSouterKaganBreyerStevensGinsburgSotomayor
  • Stephen Breyer
  • 95% credible interval
  • Peer, appointed by a Democrat
  • Peer, appointed by a Republican
  • Court median
How to read this

Martin–Quinn scores place each justice on a single liberal–conservative dimension, estimated from their votes across terms, with scores allowed to shift from one term to the next. Higher is more conservative. The shaded band is the credible interval: wider when the record is thin, especially in a justice’s first terms, and narrower as votes accumulate.

Where Breyer sits among all justices

Career average, every justice in the data set

−4−20+2+4−2.14−0.34

Breyer’s range across terms

Served alongside Breyer

15 justices

Closest career average first. Filled dot: the peer. Ring: Breyer.

JusticeTogetherCareer avg
Elena Kagan2010–2021career average −1.74 versus Breyer at −1.32Ruth Ginsburg1994–2019career average −1.76 versus Breyer at −1.32John Stevens1994–2009career average −1.81 versus Breyer at −1.32David Souter1994–2008career average −0.77 versus Breyer at −1.32Brett Kavanaugh2018–2021career average 0.56 versus Breyer at −1.32Sonia Sotomayor2009–2021career average −3.27 versus Breyer at −1.32Anthony Kennedy1994–2017career average 0.68 versus Breyer at −1.32Amy Barrett2020–2021career average 0.77 versus Breyer at −1.32John Roberts2005–2021career average 0.81 versus Breyer at −1.32Sandra O'Connor1994–2005career average 1.02 versus Breyer at −1.32Neil Gorsuch2016–2021career average 1.04 versus Breyer at −1.32Samuel Alito2005–2021career average 2.00 versus Breyer at −1.32Antonin Scalia1994–2015career average 2.50 versus Breyer at −1.32William Rehnquist1994–2004career average 2.97 versus Breyer at −1.32Clarence Thomas1994–2021career average 3.40 versus Breyer at −1.32

How Breyer voted

Every argued case Breyer took part in, newest first, with how Breyer voted in each: with the majority, in dissent, or in an equally divided Court. A Liberal or Conservative tag is the Supreme Court Database’s coding of who prevailed in the case, not a rating of the justices.

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    Data notes

    The Decisions page’s argued cases with this justice’s vote from the Supreme Court Database. “Majority” includes a concurrence; a vote that dissented in part is coded by the side the justice took overall. Cases the justice sat out and equally divided cases are left out of the percentages. “Wrote” means authored an opinion. Source: Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.).

    Report a correction

    Scores: Martin, Andrew D. and Kevin M. Quinn. 2002. “Dynamic Ideal Point Estimation via Markov Chain Monte Carlo for the U.S. Supreme Court, 1953–1999.” Political Analysis 10:134–153, from mqscores.wustl.edu. Appointment data: Federal Judicial Center biographical directory. Biographies: Wikipedia, text abridged, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Portraits: public-domain images via Wikimedia Commons.