STEPHEN BREYER Biography - Polititians

 
 

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STEPHEN BREYER

Name: Stephen Gerald Breyer                                                           
Born: 15 August 1938 San Francisco, California                                       
                                                                                     
Stephen Gerald Breyer (born August 15, 1938) is an American attorney, political       
figure, and jurist. Since 1994, he has served as an Associate Justice of the U.S.     
Supreme Court. Known for his pragmatic approach to constitutional law, Breyer is     
generally associated with the more liberal side of the Court.                         
                                                                                     
Following a clerkship with Supreme Court Associate Justice Arthur Goldberg in         
1964, Breyer became well-known as a law professor and lecturer at Harvard Law         
School starting in 1967. There he specialized in the area of administrative law,     
writing a number of influential text books that remain in use today. Other           
prominent positions before being nominated for the Supreme Court included             
serving as special assistant to the United States Assistant Attorney General for     
Antitrust and an assistant special prosecutor on the Watergate Special               
Prosecution Force in 1973.                                                           
                                                                                     
Breyer is currently known as an intellectual leader of the liberal wing of the       
Supreme Court, and particularly as a counter to the conservative Justice Antonin     
Scalia. In his 2005 book Active Liberty, Breyer made his first attempt to             
systematically lay out his views on legal theory, arguing that the judiciary         
should seek to resolve issues so as best to encourage popular participation in       
governmental decisions. His views and approach have been described by others as       
pragmatic but also deferential to the legislative branches.