KU law expert can discuss retirement of Justice Stephen Breyer, 'best hope of true advocates'

LAWRENCE — Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer has announced he will retire, giving President Joe Biden his first opportunity to make an appointment to the high court. Stephen McAllister, a University of Kansas professor and expert in constitutional law who has argued before the Supreme Court nine times, can comment on Breyer’s legacy, potential successors, the court’s makeup and more.

McAllister, the E.S. & Tom W. Hampton Distinguished Professor of Law at KU, former solicitor general of Kansas and former U.S. attorney for Kansas, is available to speak with media about the timing of Breyer’s retirement, Biden’s options in naming a successor, the justice’s legacy, Breyer’s many opinions and related topics.

“Justice Breyer brought a unique and decidedly pragmatic approach to the Supreme Court, by which I mean he was not about grand theories or abstractions or history. He cared about how the law impacted ordinary people in their daily lives,” McAllister said. “He is an engaging justice at oral arguments and frequently poses detailed and challenging hypothetical questions to advocates, always with good humor, and a sense of self-deprecation and humility. A Justice Breyer ‘question’ is often a notable moment in an oral argument. Perhaps as much as any modern justice, for me, Justice Breyer represents someone who seeks consensus outcomes to extremely difficult and challenging issues. He is willing to compromise, but not at all costs, and he truly listens to all who appear before him, the best hope of true advocates.”

McAllister clerked for U.S. Supreme Court justices Byron White from 1989 to 1991 and Clarence Thomas from 1991 to 1992. All McAllister’s Supreme Court oral arguments took place with Breyer on the bench, and McAllister said he had several fond memories of Breyer’s questions during oral arguments as well as of Breyer’s visit to the KU School of Law when Tenth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Deanell Tacha of Lawrence became chief judge of that court in 2001. Breyer, as the circuit justice for the Tenth Circuit at that time, spent several days in Lawrence sharing his wisdom with law students, faculty, judges and the bar. Breyer was extremely gracious and generous, McAllister said.

McAllister’s expertise includes federal and state constitutional law as well as Supreme Court history and practice. To schedule an interview, contact Mike Krings at 785-864-8860 or mkrings@ku.edu.