liberal justice stephen breyer at 83 the oldest member of the us supreme court will retire at the end of the courts current term that runs through the end of june nbc news and cnn reported on wednesday giving president joe biden the opportunity to appoint a successor who could serve for decades breyer authored important rulings upholding abortion rights and healthcare access helped advance lgbt rights and questioned the constitutionality of the death penalty but often found himself in dissent on a court that has moved rightward and currently has a 63 conservative majority he was appointed to the supreme court by democratic president bill clinton in 1994 only conservative justice clarence thomas one of two black men ever on the high court has served longer among the current justices joining it in 1991 biden during the 2020 presidential election campaign pledged to nominate a black woman to fill any supreme court vacancy which would be a historic first bidens fellow democrats hold a razorthin majority in the us senate which under the constitution gets to confirm supreme court nominees potential biden nominees include ketanji brown jackson a former breyer law clerk who was confirmed by the senate last june to serve on an influential us appellate court and leondra kruger who serves on the california supreme court thurgood marshall is the only other black justice in us history having served from 1967 to 1991 a biden appointee would not change the courts ideological balance but would enable him to refresh its liberal wing with a much younger jurist in the lifetime post bidens republican predecessor donald trump appointed three justices during his four years in office all of whom were young enough to serve for decades the senate then under republican control confirmed trumps appointment of conservative justice amy coney barrett in 2020 after the death of liberal justice ruth bader ginsburg after biden defeated trump in the 2020 election some liberal activists urged breyer to step aside while democrats control the senate concerned that if he does not do so republicans could block confirmation of his successor in the chamber or a future republican president could be able to name his replacement and tilt the court even further to the right the senate is split 5050 with democrats in control because vice president kamala harris can cast a tiebreaking vote confirmation of a justice requires a simple majority vote rather than a previous 60vote threshold under a change made by senate republicans in 2017 when they controlled the chamber and faced democratic opposition to trumps first supreme court nominee liberal activists are eager to avoid a repeat of what happened when trump was able to replace ginsburg expanding the courts conservative majority the courts current ninemonth term began in october it has been marked by an increasing assertiveness of its conservative majority the court already is due to issue rulings by the end of june in cases giving the conservative justices a chance to curtail abortion rights