Judge Stephen Breyer notified the White House that his retirement will become effective Thursday, June 30 at noon EST.
In a letter to President Joe Biden, Breyer said it was a "great honor" to participate as a judge in "efforts to uphold our Constitution and the rule of law."
Judge Ketanji Brown-Jackson will then be sworn in to begin her service as the 116th member of the Court.
On his last full day as a judge, Breyer attended a private hearing with his colleagues on Wednesday. The judges reviewed the list of pending applications, some relating to recently discussed cases and others relating to new cases.
By tradition, Breyer will maintain an office in the court, although he will move into smaller rooms.
The fact that the court issues final rulings and orders on the same day reflects a faster timeline than the previous clauses. She notes that the judges, who have faced death threats since the publication of the draft opinion dismissing Roe v. Wade, I want to end this dangerous and divisive term as quickly as possible.
There are two big cases waiting to be resolved regarding the environment and migration.
Breyer, appointed by then-President Bill Clinton in 1994, announced his retirement plans in January. The impending decision was met with a unanimous sigh from Democrats, who feared losing the seat to a future Republican president if the 83-year-old lawyer ignored an intense left-wing pressure campaign that led him to his exit. Biden's court also had a clear path to his replacement.
A consistent liberal vote for the Supreme Court With a firm belief in the American system of government and a pragmatic view of law, Breyer sought to focus the law on how the average citizen might function.
He was uncontroversial and was quick to say that the Supreme Court cannot solve all of society's problems. He has often emphasized that the court should not be seen as part of the political authorities, but acknowledged that some opinions may be unpopular.
In his final years in court, he was best known for his dissent, which he wrote in 2015 in a lethal injection execution case. I take this opportunity to write separately and propose to the Court that it consider the constitutionality of the death penalty.
In the fatwa, Breyer wrote that after spending many years in court hearing countless death penalty cases, he had come to question whether innocent people had been executed.
It is also feared that the sentence will be applied arbitrarily throughout the country. He noted that in some cases, those sentenced to death can spend years, sometimes in solitary confinement, on death row.
The Senate approved Jackson, Breyer's replacement, in April by 53 votes to 47, with three Republicans joining Democrats in voting for him. Although her rise to the podium does not alter the court's ideological balance, Jackson will be the first black woman to serve on the nation's highest court.
This story has been updated with additional details and background information.
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