WASHINGTON — Justice Stephen Breyer will retire from the Supreme Court at noon Thursday, he said Wednesday in a letter to President Joe Biden.
Breyer told the president in January that he intended to step down as soon as the court handed down the final decisions of the term. Court officials said Wednesday that the remaining decisions would be announced Thursday.
“Accordingly, my retirement from active service ... will be effective Thursday, June 30, at noon,” Breyer wrote.
“It has been my great honor to participate as a judge in the effort to maintain our Constitution and the Rule of Law," he wrote.
Federal Circuit Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, 51, who was confirmed in April to succeed Breyer, will take his place on the bench. She is scheduled to sworn in at a small ceremony at noon Thursday.
Chief Justice John Roberts will administer the constitutional oath, and Breyer will administer the judicial oath. The ceremony will be livestreamed on the Supreme Court website.
Breyer, who will turn 84 in August, is the court’s oldest member. He served as a justice for 28 years. Before that, he was a federal appeals judge in Boston for 14 years.
