Stephen Breyer: “I can carve a judge with more backbone out of a banana.”

What we fear: They think this will be simpler, the majority, because it will leave it all up to the states. We don't think it will be simpler. We think that there will be a lot more cases coming up.

to invalidate the plans under review is to threaten the promise of Brown. The plurality position, I fear, would break that promise. This is a decision that the Court and nation will come to regret.

I know that my role as a judge is a limited one, but the Constitution empowers me only to decide cases and controversies that are properly presented.

I can only do this for so much longer. The Democrats will lose control of the Senate, in the next election. And if that happens, the next opening will not be for two years. So, I have to do it now.