Is Chuck Schumer on board the #BreyerRetire bandwagon?

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) appears to have a subtle (or not-so-subtle) message for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer...and it starts with "re" and ends with "tire."
In a "Dear Colleague" letter circulated Friday morning, Schumer outlines congressional business as usual — including infrastructure, the American Rescue Plan, and voting rights legislation — until about the tenth paragraph, which he concludes by off-handedly writing, "As always, Senate Democrats stand ready to expeditiously fill any potential vacancies on the Supreme Court should they arise."
As some have been quick to point out, Schumer's suspicious close is almost certainly a hidden-in-plain-sight call for Breyer to step down.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Breyer has faced increasing calls to vacate his position on the Supreme Court so Democrats can fill the spot before potentially losing their Senate majority in the 2022 midterms. Now, even Schumer may have climbed aboard the bandwagon.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
The Week Unwrapped: How do you turn plastics into paracetamol?
Podcast Plus, what is the Wagner Group doing now? And why is it so hard to find a job after university?
-
The week's best photos
In Pictures A daring leap, a plastic protest, and more
-
The origins of the IDF
In Depth The IDF was formed by uniting Zionist paramilitary groups, WWII veterans and Holocaust survivors
-
Trump plans Iran talks, insists nuke threat gone
Speed Read 'The war is done' and 'we destroyed the nuclear,' said President Trump
-
Trump embraces NATO after budget vow, charm offensive
Speed Read The president reversed course on his longstanding skepticism of the trans-Atlantic military alliance
-
Trump judge pick told DOJ to defy courts, lawyer says
Speed Read Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official nominated by Trump for a lifetime seat, stands accused of encouraging government lawyers to mislead the courts and defy judicial orders
-
Mamdani upsets Cuomo in NYC mayoral primary
Speed Read Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani beat out Andrew Cuomo in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary
-
Supreme Court clears third-country deportations
Speed Read The court allowed Trump to temporarily resume deporting migrants to countries they aren't from
-
Judges order release of 2 high-profile migrants
Speed Read Kilmar Ábrego García is back in the US and Mahmoud Khalil is allowed to go home — for now
-
US assessing bomb damage to Iran nuclear sites
Speed Read Trump claims this weekend's US bombing obliterated Tehran's nuclear program, while JD Vance insists the US is 'not at war with Iran'
-
Trump's LA deployment in limbo after court rulings
Speed Read Judge Breyer ruled that Trump's National Guard deployment to Los Angeles was an 'illegal' overreach. But a federal appellate court halted the ruling.