Retired Justice Breyer tells Supreme Court’s conservative majority to ‘slow down’

Retired Justice Stephen G. Breyer is telling his former colleagues in the Supreme Court’s conservative majority to “slow down.”

In an interview published Wednesday with ABC News Live Prime, the 85-year-old former justice, who stepped down from the bench in 2022, suggested the conservative majority — including the high court’s newest members — should tap the brakes.

“Slow down. Period,” he said.

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“You’re there a long time,” Justice Breyer said. ”It takes three years, four years, five years, maybe, before you begin to adjust.”

He said justices with conservative views could always change their minds on issues down the road.

“There’s reason for thinking they won’t change, and reasons for thinking they will. They won’t perhaps give up being a more conservative person than some other person. But they may modify a little. Why do I say that? Because I think they’ll find [their approach] doesn’t work,” he said.

The interview highlighted his 10th book, “Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism.”

Justice Breyer said that he recently had lunch with the members of the court, suggesting the mood among his colleagues “has always been pleasant.”

The 6-3 conservative majority in recent years has issued ideologically divided rulings on abortion and the Second Amendment.

This term, they’re deciding whether former President Donald Trump can face criminal prosecution and revisiting the limits of their prior rulings on abortion and gun rights.

Justice Breyer was replaced by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black female justice appointed to the bench.