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.
-
Trump picks conservative BLS critic to lead BLS
speed read He has nominated the Heritage Foundation's E.J. Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics
-
Trump takes over DC police, deploys National Guard
Speed Read The president blames the takeover on rising crime, though official figures contradict this concern
-
Trump sends FBI to patrol DC, despite falling crime
Speed Read Washington, D.C., 'has become one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the world,' Trump said
-
Trump officials reinstating 2 Confederate monuments
Speed Read The administration has plans to 'restore Confederate names and symbols' discarded in the wake of George Floyd's 2020 murder
-
Trump nominates Powell critic for vacant Fed seat
speed read Stephen Miran, the chair of Trump's Council of Economic Advisers and a fellow critic of Fed chair Jerome Powell, has been nominated to fill a seat on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors
-
ICE scraps age limits amid hiring push
Speed Read Anyone 18 or older can now apply to be an ICE agent
-
Trump's global tariffs take effect, with new additions
Speed Read Tariffs on more than 90 US trading partners went into effect, escalating the global trade war
-
House committee subpoenas Epstein files
Speed Read The House Oversight Committee has issued a subpoena to the Justice Department for its Jeffrey Epstein files with an Aug. 19 deadline