Justice Stephen Breyer has doing his rounds of media appearances, lately. This includes a Tuesday night appearance on CBS' "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," as highlighted by Kyle Drennen with NewsBusters.
There are many who are less than thrilled about how elections have consequences, even and including when they don't like those consequences. For instance, former President Donald Trump's critics still can't get over how during his term as president, he was able to get three Supreme Court Justices confirmed to the bench.
Colbert made such a point when admitting that he was hoping Justice Breyer would answer his question of "What would you change to improve [the Supreme Court]" in such a specific way.
"I guess what I thought of when you were saying that is, I think those 330 million people, many of them would say they do not see the Court as being representative because many of the people on the Court, mostly those who lean more toward the right wing of the Court – if there is such a wing in your mind – were appointed by presidents who did not have a majority of the vote when they were elected, by a Senate, a Republican Senate confirmed, that represents 41 million fewer Americans than the Democrats in the Senate," Colbert said. "And while you yourself may not be political – and I accept that – the Court itself is created through a political system that no longer represents the majority of the American people."
With such an answer, Colbert proved how little he understands about American institutions, and thus how badly he needs to brush up on the Constitution, the branches of government, and the various chambers.
Drennen highlighted another way in which Colbert is wrong:
By that logic, Breyer himself or the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg should have never been on the Court since they were nominated by Bill Clinton, who failed to win a “majority of the vote” in the 1992 presidential election. Of course the reliably liberal audience greeted Colbert’s wild commentary with cheers and applause.
Further, the Court is not "representative" based on the whims of Colbert.
Both wings of the Court, that is to say justices nominated by Democrats and Republicans, have tried to turn away from the idea that the Court is political. As Landon reported on Monday about Justice Amy Coney Barrett, she told an audience on Sunday at the University of Louisville that her goal was "to convince you that this Court is not comprised of a bunch of partisan hacks."
Colbert, like just about everyone else, also asked Breyer about retiring, though, just like everyone else, was unwilling to give a response on when that would be.
"What would you do if you did retire? If you could retire, or if this was the right time, what would your plans be," Colbert asked Breyer. Ultimately, he got out of the justice that he likes cooking. "Oh, okay. You’re going to get a lot of really nice pots and pans after this interview. And if you retire, you can accept them," the host tried to tell Breyer. A moment before, Colbert had joked with Breyer about him dying.