Liberal Justice Stephen Breyer said Monday that the death of the late Justice Antonin Scalia earlier this year has not "diminished" the efficiency of the Supreme Court.
Breyer, a Bill Clinton appointee, said that of the more than 70 cases the high court will review this term, Scalia would only have impacted the outcome of roughly four or five of them, the Associated Press reported.
Of those was the challenge to Obamacare’s contraception mandate where the justices averted a 4-4 deadlock by sending the case back to federal appeals courts because they couldn’t form a majority on either side of the issue.
Another contentious case will be the ongoing challenge to President Obama’s executive actions that would extend work permits to roughly 200,000 undocumented immigrants. Scalia’s presence on the court would have tipped the scale against the White House.
Breyer, speaking during an awards ceremony at the Library of Congress, noted that in recent years the Court has divided 5-4 in only a sliver of cases.
"We may divide 4-4 in four or five cases; we may not," Breyer said of the current term ending in June.
Breyer averted comment on Obama’s Supreme Court Nominee Judge Merrick Garland. Senate Republicans have refused to hold a confirmation hearing on Garland, who would replace Scalia’s seat if confirmed.
Democratic lawmakers have accused their GOP colleagues of circumventing their constitutional responsibilities by leaving the ninth court seat open.