Retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer announced in an interview this week that he expects to be back on the bench as an appeals court judge in the First Circuit in Boston this fall, NBC News reports.
“I’m a judge. If you take senior status, you remain a judge, and not only you remain a judge in terms of status, but probably next fall I will go over and sit with the First Circuit,” he said on the “Politics War Room” podcast released Thursday. “So I’m still an active judge.”
It would be unusual but not unheard of for a former Justice to return to work after retiring from the Supreme Court; former Justices have become ambassadors, political appointees in the Executive branch and even a presidential nominee. Many others have taken cases in private practice. This is believed, however, to be the first instance of a retired Justice returned to the bench.