Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer has announced that he’ll step down from the high court, effective Thursday noon. 

The 83-year-old had already informed US President Joe Biden of his intent to retire at the end of the current term and updated the president in a letter, Wednesday, of his decision to step down after the Supreme Court makes its final opinions of the term known on Thursday. 

“The Court has announced that tomorrow, beginning at 10 a.m., it will hand down all remaining opinions ready during this Term. Accordingly, my retirement from active service under the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 371(b) will be effective on Thursday, June 30, 2022, at noon”, Breyer wrote, as per Fox News. The liberal justice added, “It has been my great honour to participate as a judge in the effort to maintain our Constitution and the Rule of Law”. 

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The statute mentioned allows justices to step down from active duty but continue to collect a salary, which comes from retaining the title if they have reached a certain age and put in a certain number of years as a Supreme Court Justice. Breyer, who has served the Supreme Court since 1994 has put in more than the 10 years of service required of those retiring at 70 or older. 

He will be replaced by Ketanji Brown Jackson, who will make history as the first black woman Supreme Court Justice. Among Breyer’s major decisions, at the mouth of his exit, was to uphold Roe v Wade, which ultimately got overturned in a 5-4 vote. 

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Jackson, 51, is an appeals court justice with nine years of experience on the federal bench. Currently, the Supreme Court has a 6-3 composition, with six conservative justices, and with Jackson stepping up, the liberals will be more consolidated as well.