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• Stephen Breyer is a Supreme Court Associate Justice. He was appointed by Bill Clinton in 1994. Prior to being on the Supreme Court, he was a professor at Harvard University Law School and published several law text books. Breyer generally votes with the more liberal members of the court and is considered to be one of the leading liberal intellectual voices on the court.

• Fast Facts

  1. Born: August 15, 1938 in San Francisco, California
  2. Assumed Office: August 3, 1994
  3. Nominated by: Bill Clinton
  4. Preceded by: Harry A. Blackmun
  5. Spouse: Joanna Freda Hare
  6. Religion: Jewish
  7. Alma Mater: Stanford University, Oxford University, Harvard University
  8. Generally sides with the more liberal justices

• Career before Supreme Court

  Breyer received his LL.B from Harvard University law school before clerking for Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg in 1964. Breyer was a professor at Harvard before serving as a special assistant to the United States Attorney General and assistant special prosecutor during the Watergate investigation.

• Active Liberty

  Breyer outlined his judicial philosophy in his 2005 book Active Liberty:Interpreting Our Democratic Constitution. The book, seen as a response to Antonin Scalia's judicial philosophy, argues that the court should seek to resolve issues that best engage the public in political participation and that the court should uphold "positive liberty."

• Related Mahalo Pages

  The U.S. Supreme Court | John Roberts | John Paul Stevens | Ruth Bader Ginsburg | Antonin Scalia | Anthony Kennedy | David Souter | Clarence Thomas | Samuel Alito | Bill Clinton | David Souter Retirement | Sonia Sotomayor

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