Stephen Breyer

In the wake of the news that Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer ’64 will retire at the end of the current term, Harvard Law School faculty members offer their thoughts on his tenure, legacy, and how the nation’s highest court could change after his departure.

Richard Lazarus ’79, a Supreme Court advocate and the Howard and Katherine Aibel Professor of Law, reflects on Justice Breyer's "striking pragmatism" — and passion — during his 28 years on the Court.

To retain the public’s trust, Justice Breyer argued, changes should come not from political reform, but in recommitment to ideals within the Court itself and in the American people.

On March 10, two teams of HLS students faced off for the final round of the Ames Moot Court Competition. For the first time in its more than 100-year-old history, the competition was conducted virtually, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Although arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court are not video-recorded, you can watch many of its justices questioning oralists and presiding over cases—within the State of Ames. Visit Harvard Law School’s archive of video recordings of the final rounds of the Ames Moot Court Competition.

The opening event of Harvard Law School’s Bicentennial summit was one for the history books. Six Supreme Court justices joined Dean John F. Manning ’85 to share memories and a few priceless anecdotes.

The mood was festive, rather than disputatious, on Friday evening as Supreme Court Associate Justices Stephen G. Breyer, J.D. ’64, and Neil M. Gorsuch, J.D. ’91, sat down to discuss “the rule of law,” capping off a Harvard Marshall Forum dinner in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the trans-Atlantic scholarship.

A look back at 2016, highlights of the people who visited, events that took place and everyday life at Harvard Law School.

President of the European Court of Justice Koen Lenaerts LL.M. ’78 keeps a photo engraving of Austin Hall in his home office in Leuven, Belgium. The image reminds him of the course he took from then HLS Professor Stephen Breyer ’64 (a 2L named John G. Roberts was also in the class), his LL.M. thesis with Duncan Kennedy, and hours spent perusing newspapers from around the world at Out of Town News in the Square. HLS is also now the alma mater of one of his six daughters.

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Breyer ’64 visited Harvard Law School on Jan. 25 to discuss his new book, “The Court and the World: American Law and the New Global Realities.” Breyer, who taught at HLS from 1967 to 1994, spoke about his analysis of U.S. courts’ role in an increasingly globalized world.

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Breyer made a recent appearance at Harvard Kennedy School to discuss his new book, “The Court and the World: American Law and the New Global Realities,” with HKS Professor David Gergen, and Nancy Gertner, a former U.S. District Court judge in Massachusetts and now a senior lecturer at HLS.

A former NBA All Star turned humanitarian. Supreme Court justices. Student protests. Take a look at some highlights of the people who visited and events that took place this semester at Harvard Law School.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of his appointment to the United States Supreme Court, Associate Justice Stephen Breyer visited Harvard Law School on Oct. 1 for an informal chat with HLS Dean Martha Minow, and later took part in a panel discussion with several HLS professors who examined his tenure and some of his most notable opinions.

In October, the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice sponsored a two-day conference looking back at Cooper v. Aaron and the impact it’s had on law and education over the course of 55 years. The event brought together legal scholars, students, and civil-rights lawyers and featured a moot-court proceeding involving U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and nine appellate judges, to revisit the legal questions raised by Cooper.

At HLS Reunion Weekend last weekend, Justices Breyer and Souter (who retired from the court in 2009) exchanged good-humored banter and insights about their service on the nation’s highest court, in an event, “A Conversation with the Justices,” moderated by HLS Dean Martha Minow.

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer ’64 discussed the foundations of American democracy with Tunisian scholars at a conference hosted by NGO Almadanya on July 22 in the Amphitéâtre César in Yasmine-Hammamet, Tunisia.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer '64 talks with the Bulletin in chambers.