After months of public speculation about his future, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer stood in the White House on Jan. 27 to announce his decision to retire. Justice Breyer, who has served on the high court since 1994, stood not far from President Biden, who minutes earlier declared his intention to nominate a Black woman to replace the retiring justice.

President Biden was profuse in his praise of the 83-year-old Bryer, saying “he has been everything this country could have asked for... in his patient efforts to seek consensus, a desire to learn more and his work ethic.”

President Biden also mentioned landmark opinions issued by the retiring judge, who is considered one of the court’s more liberal justices, but also is known as a pragmatist. Patent law, abortion and voting rights are among the decisions for which President Biden said Justice Breyer presented “sensible and nuanced” opinions.

Legal observers have noted that Justice Breyer had one of his most productive term’s last year after receiving top assignments from Chief Justice John Roberts. Indeed, it was Justice Breyer who wrote the majority opinion when the court rejected the third challenge at the Supreme Court the Affordable Care Act.

For that we say “Bravo!”

The ACA has come under attack several times since it was successfully passed during the Obama administration’s first term. Recent signs of the health care plan’s growing popularity is confirmed by the record number of Americans — 13.6 million — who have signed up for health care through the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces for 2022. Despite reasons for the increased participation— Congress lowering the cost of Obamacare insurance; the Biden administration’s expanded advertising for the program; and the pandemic disrupting many Americans’ employer-provided coverage—one cause rings clear. Without Justice Breyer’s foresight, ability to compromise and, above all, compassion, it is highly possible that far more Americans would not have affordable health care.

Important decisions on affirmative action, gun rights and abortion also have been rendered by Justice Breyer, often described as a intellectual who enjoys reading in French but also dabbles in average pursuits such as biking and architecture.

In remarks on the day that he announced his retirement, Justice Breyer vividly drew a sketch of America as a “complicated country filled with every race, religion and every point of view possible.”

When Americans fail to agree on important and not-so-important issues, they look to the rule of law to resolve them, he said.

Justice Breyer added that when he speaks to students of all ages, he reminds them that this entire country and its laws are all based on an experiment that began with former presidents such as George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and was highlighted during President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, a speech that his wife pays their grandchildren to memorize.

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal,” the speech reads.

“It’s you, the next generation and the one after that,” said Justice Breyer, who will continue to be part of the experiment.

President Biden, since repeating his promise to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court, has developed a list of the nominees, all of whom are brilliant legal scholars. The short list of names include Ketanji Brown Jackson, who serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, U.S. District Court Judge J. Michelle Childs from South Carolina, California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger, U.S. District Court Judge Wilhelmina Wright from Minnesota and Melissa Murray, a New York University law professor who is an expert in family law and reproductive rights justice.

In daily talks with trusted advisers, Vice President Kamala Harris, members of Congress and supporters, President Biden continues to weigh a decision that, for years to come, will have wide-ranging consequences for every race, every religion and every point of view in this complex country.

We encourage President Biden, in his decision making, to heed the words of the man who is descending the bench to allow the rule of the law to apply fairly, equally and for all.