Stephen Breyer Biography

Stephen Breyer

After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1964, Stephen Breyer held a clerkship for Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg. He also served as Assistant Special Prosecutor on the Watergate Special Prosecution Force (1973), Special Counsel, U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. From 1978-1979, Breyer was Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. An authority on government regulation and antitrust legislation, Breyer played an important role in airline deregulation during the 1970s. President Jimmy Carter appointed him to the bench in 1980, as Judge on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, becoming its Chief Judge in 1990. President Bill Clinton appointed Breyer to the Supreme Court in 1994. Considered by many to be an intellectual counterweight to Justice Antonin Scalia, Breyer's nomination was hailed by moderate Democrats and Republicans.