Stephen Breyer (1938-)

Stephen Breyer was born in San Francisco on August 15, 1938. His father Irving was a lawyer and his mother Anne was active in political affairs. Breyer attended Stanford University, and graduated with honors in 1959. After obtaining his bachelor's degree, Breyer attended Oxford University, where he obtained a second bachelor's degree and earned 1st class honors. He then returned to the United States, and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1964. After graduating from Harvard, Breyer clerked for Justice Arthur Goldberg in 1964-65. After working in the Department of Justice for several years, Breyer returned to Harvard Law School to teach. At Harvard, his scholarship largely focused on administrative law.

In 1980, Breyer was nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. He remained on the Court of Appeals for fourteen years. In 1994, after the retirement of Justice Harry Blackmun, President Bill Clinton nominated Breyer to the Court. He won confirmation handily.

In Fall 2001, Breyer gave the James Madison lecture at New York University. In the lecture, he explicated his theory of constitutional interpretation. Breyer stated that he believed in "an approach to constitutional interpretation that places considerable weight upon consequences-consequences valued in terms of basic constitutional purposes. It disavows a contrary constitutional approach, a more 'legalistic' approach that places too much weight upon language, history, tradition, and precedent alone while understating the importance of consequences." Breyer noted that all judges use text, history, precedent and tradition, but judging was not to be limited to those tools. Consequences counted as well. The purpose of this type of constitutional interpretation was to facilitate the active participation by people in government. He stated, "[W]hen judges interpret the constitution, they should place greater emphasis upon the 'ancient liberty,' i.e., the people's right to 'an active and constant participation in collective power.' I believe that increased emphasis upon this active liberty will lead to better constitutional law, a law that will promote governmental solutions consistent with individual dignity and community need." In general, Breyer broadly interprets the commerce clause and exercises of federal power regarding states. In individual rights cases, Breyer cannot be typecast. He generally but not invariably interprets the Establishment Clause broadly, and his votes on free speech cases do not tilt to the interests of either the government or the individual. However, he narrowly interprets the takings clause of the 14th Amendment.  

Breyer married Joanna Hare, the daughter of an English noble, in 1967. They are the parents of two daughters and a son.