[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book I)]
[May 16, 1994]
[Pages 925-927]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks on the Nomination of Stephen G. Breyer To Be a Supreme Court 
Associate Justice and an Exchange With Reporters
May 16, 1994

    The President. Good afternoon. The distinguished Members of the 
Congress, Attorney General and other members of the Cabinet, the family 
and friends of Judge Breyer, ladies and gentlemen, tomorrow is the 40th 
anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of 
Education, one of the greatest and most important decisions ever 
rendered by a court of law. We celebrate the Brown decision, and as we 
do, we are reminded of the central and powerful role the United States 
Supreme Court plays in our national life and in our society, addressing 
profound questions of law and justice, of liberty and equality.
    Today we pay tribute to one Justice who has served the Nation 
magnificently and we announce the nomination of another who we hope and 
expect will also grace the Court with greatness. We celebrate the 
service of Justice Harry Blackmun, a distinguished member of the Court 
to which we entrust our legal and constitutional rights. He discharged 
that trust with fortitude, vision, fairness, and enormous courage and 
passion. After a long season of service, at the start of a new season of 
fulfillment for him and his family, I offer Justice Blackmun our deepest 
appreciation for his devotion to duty and to the Supreme Court.
    Today we also celebrate the nomination of a jurist who I deeply 
believe will also take his place as one of our Nation's outstanding 
Justices. I ask the Senate to consider and to promptly confirm the 
nomination of Judge Stephen Breyer as the 108th Justice of the Supreme 
Court.
    The case for Judge Breyer's confirmation is clear and compelling: 
his sheer excellence, his broad understanding of the law, his deep 
respect for the role of the courts in our life and in protecting our 
individual rights, and his gift as a consensus builder. In addition to 
his extraordinary intellectual talents, Judge Breyer will bring to the 
Court an abiding sense of decency and an unswerving dedication to 
ensuring liberty and justice for all.
    Judge Breyer has devoted his entire life to public service, as a law 
clerk to Justice Arthur Goldberg, as a young lawyer at the Justice 
Department, as a teacher opening young minds to the promise and 
discipline of the law, as a member of the Watergate Special Prosecutor's 
office, as chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, and for 14 
years, as an exceptional judge on the United States Court of Appeals for 
the First Circuit.
    He has served in all three branches of Government with the heart and 
head of a reformer, always succeeding at what he has tried to do. His 
career shows that he understands how Government works and how laws are 
really made, knowledge that is indispensable for much of the litigation 
which comes before the Supreme Court. As chief counsel to the Senate 
Judiciary Committee, he won the admiration of Senators of both parties 
for his fairness and commitment to justice and for his principled 
advocacy of economic reform.
    He also served as a key member of the United States Sentencing 
Commission. Before the Commission was created, there was law but little 
order when criminal sentences were applied. His

[[Page 926]]

decisive behind-the-scenes work enabled the Commission to give us less 
disparate and more truthful sentences and a more principled system of 
justice for the victims and the perpetrators of crime.
    In 14 years on the Court of Appeals, his influential decisions have 
protected the civil rights and individual rights of Americans, even at 
the cost of making powerful people uncomfortable. His insight and 
clarity have established him as an unquestioned leader of the judiciary. 
He has spoken loudly for fairness and justice.
    What does it mean to the average man and woman who will read 
tomorrow or see tonight on the news that Stephen Breyer is a consensus 
builder? We would do well to recall, on this day especially, that the 
Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education spoke strongly and clearly 
in one unanimous voice. That momentous decision was joined by Justices 
who hailed from all regions of our Nation, by Justices who had been 
appointed by Presidents of both parties, by Justices who thought they 
espoused very different philosophies.
    Judge Breyer will bring to the Court a well-recognized and 
impressive ability to build bridges in pursuit of fairness and justice. 
In the generations ahead, the Supreme Court will face questions of 
overriding national importance, many of which we cannot today even 
imagine. That is why it is so important to appoint someone whom we can 
predict will be a Justice who seeks to ensure that the Court speaks in a 
clear voice, as unified a voice as it is possible to speak in furthering 
the goals of liberty and equality under the law.
    We are honored that Judge Breyer could share this day with his 
family, his wife, Joanna, a clinical psychologist who relieves the pain 
of children undergoing cancer treatment, and his children, Chloe, Nell, 
and Michael. We welcome them to the White House as we acclaim Judge 
Breyer's supreme, superb qualifications for the Supreme Court.
    Ladies and gentlemen, Judge Stephen Breyer.

[At this point, Judge Breyer expressed his appreciation to the President 
and discussed the importance of the justice system in America.]

    Q. Mr. President, Judge Breyer talked about the selection process. 
We're wondering why----
    The President. Well, first of all, the Constitution--let me give you 
a general answer--the Constitution requires the President to seek not 
only the consent but the advice of the United States Senate, and I did 
that. And when people made suggestions to me, I discussed it with the 
folks who work around here. And the more advice you seek, the more leaks 
you have in here. [Laughter] And I might say that at least--far more 
than half of those that I've read concerning this appointment have been 
downright wrong, absolutely wrong, factually wrong. But nonetheless, if 
you seek advice, you will have leaks. I decided that I would pay the 
price of the leaks, even the wrong ones, to follow the duty of the 
Constitution.
    I think that when you do consult broadly and you think about it and 
you're personally involved in it, as I've tried to be, you tend to make 
the right decision. I think everybody around here today thinks I made 
the right decision. I think that's all that really counts.
    Q. If I could ask the judge a question. There are many liberal 
Democrats who have been hoping someone would be named who would serve as 
a strong counterpoint to Justice Scalia. Do you envisage yourself as 
someone who can stand up to his more conservative principles and argue 
the merits of the sort of liberal case effectively and move that Court 
to a different direction?
    Judge Breyer. If I'm confirmed, I envisage myself as a person who 
will do the best possible job I'm capable of as a Justice of the Supreme 
Court.
    The President. I wish I could answer questions like that. His 
constitutional privilege is my burden. [Laughter]
    Q. [Inaudible]
    Judge Breyer. I believe at some time in the near future, there will 
be confirmation hearings at which I expect to have lots of questions and 
difficult ones, too, on matters of substance. And I think that I'll 
reserve questions and answers of substance for that time.
    Q. Mr. President, Judge Breyer said over the weekend that he saw the 
role of judge in the Court as making life better for ordinary citizens, 
something to which he alluded to here as well. What do you mean by that, 
sir? Do you have a goal or a special agenda that----
    Judge Breyer. No, no. Well, what I think of in respect to that is if 
you think of law in general, there's the Constitution, the Bill of 
Rights, dozens of guarantees for people, laws and statutes, regulations, 
rules, common law. There's a whole mass of material that somehow, 
sometimes, in some way is supposed to fit together.

[[Page 927]]

And what is it supposed to do, seen as a whole? What it's supposed to do 
seen as a whole is allow all people, all people, to live together in a 
society where they have so many different views, so many different 
needs, but to live together in a way that is more harmonious, that is 
better so that they can work productively together. That's a very 
general statement, but that is a very general purpose, I think, of law.
    The President. It's hard to be better than that.
    Thank you. We're adjourned.
    Q. [Inaudible]
    The President. I think we should let him speak for himself. I think 
we let him speak for himself. I don't think--if we do it right, there's 
not necessarily a dichotomy. We can't be free individually unless we're 
a responsible society. And I think he'll do very well on that.
    Q. Mr. President, how do you feel about the critics over the weekend 
who said you caved into pressure from Senator Hatch?
    The President. That's just not right.
    Q. ----said you're not willing to fight for someone you believe in, 
like Bruce Babbitt.
    The President. That's just not right. I believe in this guy.
    Q. Were you surprised by the Western Senators?
    The President. No, we--[inaudible]--we could confirm all three of 
them. It was not an issue. I'll say again, that was not an issue. I 
realize these process things can--more than half the stories I read 
about this were wrong, and that's one of them.
    Q. Which ones were wrong?
    The President. [Inaudible]--we could have confirmed them all.
    Q. What about the stories you saw on TV? [Laughter]
    The President. They're always right. [Laughter]

Note: The President spoke at 12:49 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House. A portion of these remarks could not be verified because the tape 
was incomplete.