President Joe Biden on Thursday will deliver remarks on Thursday to announce the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, the White House said.

       Mr Breyer, the court’s liberal wing’s most senior justice, is stepping down after more than two decades.

       The White House said Mr Breyer will attend the event, which will take place in the White House’s Roosevelt Room.

       Mr Breyer’s retirement comes after more than a year of sturm und drang from Democrats who have worried that he would choose to remain on the bench and deny Mr Biden a chance to nominate a justice to the high court before the November midterm elections.

       Midterm elections traditionally result in poor showings for the president’s party. If that pattern holds and Republicans gain control of the upper chamber, they could prevent Mr Biden from filling any open seat on any court.

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       If the Senate GOP follows their prior practice, any Biden nominee to the high court would suffer the same fate as former president Barack Obama’s choice to fill the vacancy left by the February 2016 death of Justice Antonin Scalia.

       Mr Obama’s nominee, then-District of Columbia Circuit Judge Merrick Garland, never received so much as a confirmation hearing before the GOP-controlled senate judiciary committee.

       Because Mr Breyer is retiring while Democrats still control the senate, Mr Biden will be able to fulfil his campaign promise to nominate the first Black woman to serve on the court.