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Hello and happy Friday. I'm Adrienne Hurst. This is your Playbook Daily briefing. We have a special

dispatch today from Politico's legal ace, Josh Gerstein, on what's been on every Scotus nerds

mind this week, calls for Breyer to retire. Justice Stephen Breyer's speech a few nights back, skewering calls by liberal

activists to expand the size of the Supreme Court seems to have prompted court reformers to step

up their calls. They're saying Breyer should help reinvigorate the court right now the way only he can,

by resigning. Advocates are launching a petition drive, urging Breyer to make way for a new

justice appointed by President Biden. This morning, they're sending a mobile billboard truck out to

Capitol Hill to nudge Breyer out, and they're explicitly noting Biden's promise to nominate the

first black woman to the high court. The new pressure on Breyer comes on the 11th anniversary

of Justice John Paul Stevens announcing his plans to step down from the court, which you might recall

gave President Obama a chance to name Justice Elena Kagan to replace the left-leaning Gerald

Florida appointee. By the way, Breyer, who's declined to discuss when he might actually leave the

court, would probably want us to note that he's a sprightly 82, while Stevens was 90 when he quit.

Still, advocates say that they want Breyer to follow Stevens' example and announce right now that he'll

leave the court at the end of this term. Brian Fallon of the Liberal Advocacy Group Demand Justice said,

this can't wait much longer.

We can't assume Democrats will have control of the Senate for the next two years.

Legal insiders say Breyer's former clerks are arguing it's presumptuous to tell any justice to step down,

and good luck swaying a justice who's publicly

warning against viewing the justices as partisan figures. Some court watchers have even argued

that the pressure tactics could backfire and encourage Breyer to say, screw it, I'm going to stick it out

...